Developmental biology of sporozoite-host interactions in Plasmodium falciparum malaria: implications for vaccine design.

ABSTRACT: The Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite infects different types of cells in a mosquito's salivary glands and human epithelial and Kuppfer cells and hepatocytes. These become differentiated later on, transforming themselves into the invasive red blood cell form, the merozoite. The ability of sporozoites to interact with different types of cells requires a wide variety of mechanisms allowing them to survive in both hosts: mobility, receptor-ligand interactions with different cellular receptors, and transformation and development into other invasive parasite forms, which are vitally important for parasite survival. Sporozoite complexity is reflected in the large quantity of proteins that can be expressed. Some of them have been extensively studied, such as CSP, TRAP, STARP, LSA-1, LSA-3, SALSA,

SUBMITTER: Garcia JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1592691 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature