Identity Theft: The Key to the Cat Parasite’s (Toxoplasma) Success
The parasite
The parasite Toxoplasma is carried by a considerable part of the global human population. Currently, a study led by researchers at Stockholm University demonstrates how this microscopic parasite so effectively spreads in the body, for example, to the brain. The parasite infects immune cells and steals their identity. The research study is released in the scientific journal Cell Host Microbe.
In order to deal with infections, the numerous functions of immune cells in the body are extremely strictly regulated. Scientists have long questioned how Toxoplasma manages to infect so many people and animal species and proliferate so effectively.
An identity thief
According to Arne ten Hoeve, a scientist at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University, they have found a protein that the parasite utilizes to reprogram the immune system.
The research study indicates that the parasite injects the protein into the nucleus of the immune cell and thus alters the cell’s identity. The parasite tricks the immune cell into believing it is another type of cell. This alters the gene expression and behavior of the immune cell. Toxoplasma makes infected cells which usually should not travel in the body, relocate really quickly, and in this way, the parasite spreads to different organs.
The phenomenon has been described as Toxoplasma turning immune cells into Trojan horses or ambling “zombies” that proliferated the parasite. The newly published research gives a molecular explanation for the phenomenon and likewise reveals that the parasite is far more targeted in its spread than previously believed.
Professor Antonio Barragan, that led the research says that it is astonishing that the parasite successfully hijacks the identity of the immune cells in such a smart way. The discoveries can explain why Toxoplasma spreads so effectively in the body when it infects humans and animals. The research was carried out in collaboration with researchers from France and the USA.
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is most likely the most common parasitic infection in people around the world. Toxoplasma even infects many animal species (zoonosis), including our pets. The WHO estimates that at least 30% of the world’s human population is a parasite carrier. Research indicates that 15-20% of the Swedish population carry the parasite (the majority without understanding it). The incidence is higher in numerous other European countries.
Felines, not only domestic cats, have a special place in the life cycle of Toxoplasma: it is exclusively in the cat’s intestine that sexual reproduction occurs. In other hosts, for example, humans, dogs, or birds, reproduction happens by the parasite dividing.
Toxoplasma’s life cycle and infections
Toxoplasma is spread via food and contact with cats. In nature, the parasite usually spreads from rodents to cats to rodents and so forth. The parasites are “sleeping” in the rodent’s brain. When a cat eats a mouse, they proliferate in its intestine and leave via the feces. The parasite gets to the vegetation, and it becomes infected when the rodent consumes the greenery. Human beings are infected via meat consumption or contact with cats, especially cat feces.
The parasite creates the disease toxoplasmosis. When an individual is infected for the first time, mild flu-like symptoms happen that can resemble a cold or a flu. After the first infection phase, the parasite changes to a “sleeping” stage in the brain and starts a chronic silent infection that can last for decades or permanently. Chronic infection usually creates no symptoms in healthy people.
Toxoplasma can cause a deadly brain infection (encephalitis) in people with a weakened immune system (HIV, organ transplant recipients, after chemotherapy) and can be harmful to the fetus during pregnancy. Eye infections can take place in otherwise healthy people.
Read the original article on Science Daily.
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