IMR Press / FBL / Volume 13 / Issue 10 / DOI: 10.2741/2961

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article

Molecular analysis of early host cell infection by Trypanosoma cruzi

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1 Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immune Response, School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, 1005 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208-3599

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

 

Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2008, 13(10), 3714–3734; https://doi.org/10.2741/2961
Published: 1 May 2008
Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas heart disease, infects heart and other cells leading to cardiac arrest frequently followed by death (1). The disease affects millions of individuals in the Americas and is posing health problems because of blood transmission in the US due to large Latin American immigration (2-3). Since the current drugs present serious side effects and do not cure the chronic infection (4), it is critically important to understand the early process of cellular infection at the molecular and structural levels to design novel inhibitors to block T. cruzi infection. In this review, the authors critically analyze the molecular and cellular basis of early T. cruzi infection and discuss the future directions in this area. The candidate T. cruzi invasive genes and host genes involved in the process of early infection are just beginning to be understood. The trypanosome invasive proteins are excellent targets for intervention. The progress made in the cell biology of T. cruzi infection will also facilitate the development of novel cell-based therapies to ameliorate the disease.

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