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Trichuris muris Infection: A Model of Type 2 Immunity and Inflammation in the Gut
Published on: May 24, 2011
How does Trichinella spiralis make itself at home?
1Division of Environmental Health Sciences and Department of Microbiology, Columbia University, 630 West 168th St, New York City, NY 10032, USA.
Abstract:
The nurse cell-parasite complex of Trichinella spiralis is unlike anything else in Nature. It is derived from a normal portion of striated skeletal muscle cell and develops in a matter of 15 to 20 days after the larva invades that cell type. What are the molecular mechanisms at work that result in this unique relationship? Here, Dickson Despommier presents a hypothesis to account for its formation, in which secreted tyvelosylated proteins of the larva play a central role. These proteins are always present in the intracellular niche of the larva from Day 7 after infection and may be responsible for redirecting host genomic expression, leading to nurse cell formation.
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