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Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle

Bovine babesiosis is an acute and persistent tick-borne global disease caused mainly by the intraerythrocytic apicomplexan parasites Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. B. bovis infected erythrocytes sequester in blood capillaries of the host (cytoadhesion), causing malaria-like neurological signs. Cytoa...

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Autores principales: Gallego-Lopez, Gina M., Cooke, Brian M., Suarez, Carlos E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31277392
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8030097
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author Gallego-Lopez, Gina M.
Cooke, Brian M.
Suarez, Carlos E.
author_facet Gallego-Lopez, Gina M.
Cooke, Brian M.
Suarez, Carlos E.
author_sort Gallego-Lopez, Gina M.
collection PubMed
description Bovine babesiosis is an acute and persistent tick-borne global disease caused mainly by the intraerythrocytic apicomplexan parasites Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. B. bovis infected erythrocytes sequester in blood capillaries of the host (cytoadhesion), causing malaria-like neurological signs. Cytoadhesion and antigenic variation in B. bovis are linked to the expression of members of the Variant Erythrocyte Surface Antigen (VESA) gene family. Animals that survive acute B. bovis infection and those vaccinated with attenuated strains remain persistently infected, suggesting that B. bovis parasites use immune escape mechanisms. However, attenuated B. bovis parasites do not cause neurological signs in vaccinated animals, indicating that virulence or attenuation factors play roles in modulating parasite virulence phenotypes. Artificial overexpression of the SBP2t11 protein, a defined attenuation factor, was associated with reduced cytoadhesion, suggesting a role for this protein as a key modulator of virulence in the parasite. Hereby, we propose a model that might be functional in the modulation of B. bovis virulence and persistence that relies on the interplay among SBP2t, VESA proteins, cytoadhesion, and the immune responses of the host. Elucidation of mechanisms used by the parasite to establish persistent infection will likely contribute to the design of new methods for the control of bovine babesiosis.
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spelling pubmed-67898902019-10-16 Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle Gallego-Lopez, Gina M. Cooke, Brian M. Suarez, Carlos E. Pathogens Review Bovine babesiosis is an acute and persistent tick-borne global disease caused mainly by the intraerythrocytic apicomplexan parasites Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. B. bovis infected erythrocytes sequester in blood capillaries of the host (cytoadhesion), causing malaria-like neurological signs. Cytoadhesion and antigenic variation in B. bovis are linked to the expression of members of the Variant Erythrocyte Surface Antigen (VESA) gene family. Animals that survive acute B. bovis infection and those vaccinated with attenuated strains remain persistently infected, suggesting that B. bovis parasites use immune escape mechanisms. However, attenuated B. bovis parasites do not cause neurological signs in vaccinated animals, indicating that virulence or attenuation factors play roles in modulating parasite virulence phenotypes. Artificial overexpression of the SBP2t11 protein, a defined attenuation factor, was associated with reduced cytoadhesion, suggesting a role for this protein as a key modulator of virulence in the parasite. Hereby, we propose a model that might be functional in the modulation of B. bovis virulence and persistence that relies on the interplay among SBP2t, VESA proteins, cytoadhesion, and the immune responses of the host. Elucidation of mechanisms used by the parasite to establish persistent infection will likely contribute to the design of new methods for the control of bovine babesiosis. MDPI 2019-07-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6789890/ /pubmed/31277392 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8030097 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gallego-Lopez, Gina M.
Cooke, Brian M.
Suarez, Carlos E.
Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title_full Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title_fullStr Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title_full_unstemmed Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title_short Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors of Babesia bovis and Their Contribution to the Establishment of Persistent Infections in Cattle
title_sort interplay between attenuation- and virulence-factors of babesia bovis and their contribution to the establishment of persistent infections in cattle
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31277392
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8030097
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