Sleeping sickness: Pathogens camouflage themselves with sugar

(German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ)) It has long been known that the pathogens causing sleeping sickness evade the immune system by exchanging their surface proteins. But now scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have found an additional parasite strategy to escape the immune system: they confuse the defense system with sugar. The sugar chains on the coat protein prevent the binding of protective antibodies and thus increase the pathogenic properties of the unicellular pathogens.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news