Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK; Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3QU.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Rd, Cambridge CB2 1QW, UK.
Trends Parasitol. 2023 Dec;39(12):1014-1022. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.09.001. Epub 2023 Sep 25.
African trypanosomes show a remarkable ability to survive as extracellular parasites in the blood and tissue spaces of an infected mammal. Throughout the infection they are exposed to the molecules and cells of the immune system, including complement. In this opinion piece, we review decades-worth of evidence about how complement affects African trypanosomes. We highlight the discovery of a trypanosome receptor for complement C3 and we critically assess three recent studies which attempt to provide a structural and mechanistic view of how this receptor helps trypanosomes to survive in the presence of complement.
非洲锥虫具有在感染哺乳动物的血液和组织间隙中作为细胞外寄生虫生存的显著能力。在整个感染过程中，它们会暴露于免疫系统的分子和细胞中，包括补体。在这篇观点文章中，我们回顾了几十年来关于补体如何影响非洲锥虫的证据。我们重点介绍了补体 C3 的一种锥虫受体的发现，并批判性地评估了最近的三项研究，这些研究试图提供一种结构和机制观点，说明这种受体如何帮助锥虫在补体存在的情况下存活。
