Strategies Developed by Toxoplasma gondii to Survive in the Host

Strategies Developed by Toxoplasma gondii to Survive in the Host Wanbo Zhu1,2†, Jingyang Li1,3†, Faustina Pappoe4, Jilong Shen1* and Li Yu1* 1Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Anhui Provincial Laboratory of Microbiology and Parasitology, Anhui Key Laboratory of Zoonoses, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China 2Graduate School of Affiliated Anhui Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China 3The Clinical Laboratory of the Third People’s Hospital of Heifei, Hefei, China 4Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana One of the most successful intracellular parasites, Toxoplasma gondii has developed several strategies to avoid destruction by the host. These include approaches such as rapid and efficient cell invasion to avoid phagocytic engulfment, negative regulation of the canonical CD40-CD40L-mediated autophagy pathway, impairment of the noncanonical IFN-γ-dependent autophagy pathway, and modulation of host cell survival and death to obtain lifelong parasite survival. Different virulent strains have even evolved different ways to cope with and evade destruction by the host. This review aims to illustrate every aspect of the game between the host and Toxoplasma during the process of infection. A better understanding of all aspects of the battle between Toxoplasma and its hosts will be useful for the development of better strate...
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research