Molecular and cellular pathobiology of Ehrlichia infection: targets for new therapeutics and immunomodulation strategies.

ABSTRACT: Ehrlichia are small obligately intracellular bacteria in the order Rickettsiales that are transmitted by ticks and associated with emerging life-threatening human zoonoses. Vaccines are not available for human ehrlichiosis, and therapeutic options are limited to a single antibiotic class. New technologies for exploring host-pathogen interactions have yielded recent advances in understanding the molecular interactions between Ehrlichia and the eukaryotic host cell and identified new targets for therapeutic and vaccine development, including those that target pathogen virulence mechanisms or disrupt the processes associated with ehrlichial effector proteins. Animal models have also provided insight into immunopathological mechanisms that contribute significantly to understanding severe disea

SUBMITTER: McBride JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3767467 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature