Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi is a remarkably versatile parasite. It can parasitize almost any nucleated cell type and naturally infects hundreds of mammal species across much of the Americas. In humans, it is the cause of Chagas disease, a set of mainly chronic conditions predominantly affecting the heart and gastrointestinal tract, which can progress to become life threatening. Yet around two thirds of infected people are long-term asymptomatic carriers. Clinical outcomes depend on many factors, but the central determinant is the nature of the host-parasite interactions that play out over the years of chronic infection in diverse tissue environments. In this review, we aim to integrate recent developments in the understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of T.cruzi infections with established and emerging concepts in host immune responses in the corresponding phases and tissues.
Highlights
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), is an extraordinarily versatile parasite
Any nucleated cell type may be parasitized in any tissue the trypomastigote can reach.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
From its origins in ancient South American fauna, T. cruzi has spread to diverse mammalian orders across the Americas and become a widespread human pathogen
Summary
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), is an extraordinarily versatile parasite. Any nucleated cell type may be parasitized in any tissue the trypomastigote can reach.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] After invasion and escape from a parasitophorous vacuole into the cytosol, another transition occurs to the amastigote form, which replicates repeatedly and differentiates to generate a population of pleomorphic tissue/bloodstream form trypomastigotes These are released into the extracellular space, from where they may infect a new cell, in some cases after migration to the bloodstream. In the event they are taken up in a triatomine blood meal, they can complete the cycle by differentiating into epimastigotes
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