Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered new information about how a dangerous parasite takes control of a patient’s cells as it spreads throughout their body, an important finding that could help in the development of new drugs to treat this infection.
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered new information about how a dangerous parasite takes control of a patient’s cells as it spreads throughout their body, an important finding that could help in the development of new drugs to treat this infection.
“The parasite essentially hijacks these cells, using them as vehicles to get to various organ systems, including the brain,” said Leonardo Augusto, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and lead author on the National Institutes of Health-funded study, which was recently published in mBio. “It’s like the parasite is taking the wheel of its host cell and using it to spread around the body.”
Toxoplasma gondii infects up to one-third of the world’s population. People typically become infected with it through exposure to cat feces, which is where it goes through its reproductive phases, or consumption of contaminated food and water. The parasite causes life-threatening issues in some patients because of its ability to disseminate to the brain. In the brain and other tissues, the parasite persists as a latent cyst, waiting to reactivate if immunity should wane, such as what happens in HIV/AIDS patients.
“One of the key problems in battling an infection like Toxoplasma is controlling its spread to other parts of the body,” Augusto said. “Upon ingestion of the parasite, it makes its way into immune cells and causes them to move—a behavior called hypermigratory activity. How these parasites cause their infected cells to start migrating is largely unknown.”
Read more at Indiana University School of Medicine
Image: This image shows two different Toxoplasma host cells changing their shape to migrate. (Credit: IU School of Medicine)
