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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Cercarial Transformation and in vitro Cultivation of Schistosoma mansoni Schistosomules
Published on: August 16, 2011
Schistosoma genomics: new perspectives on schistosome biology and host-parasite interaction
Ze-Guang Han1, Paul J Brindley, Sheng-Yue Wang
1Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory for Disease and Health Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai, Shanghai 201203, China. hanzg@chgc.sh.cn
Abstract:
Schistosomiasis, caused mainly by Schistosoma japonicum, S. mansoni, and S. hematobium, remains one of the most prevalent and serious parasitic diseases worldwide. The blood flukes have a complex life cycle requiring adaptation for survival in fresh water as free-living forms and as parasites in snail intermediate and vertebrate definitive hosts. Functional genomics analyses, including transcriptomic and proteomic approaches, have been performed on schistosomes, in particular S. mansoni and S. japonicum, using powerful high-throughput methodologies. These investigations have not only chartered gene expression profiles across genders and developmental stages within mammalian and snail hosts, but have also characterized the features of the surface tegument, the eggshell and excretory-secretory proteomes of schistosomes. The integration of the genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic information, together with genetic manipulation on individual genes, will provide a global insight into the molecular architecture of the biology, pathogenesis, and host-parasite interactions of the human blood flukes. Importantly, these functional genomics analyses lay a foundation on which to develop new antischistosome vaccines as well as drug targets and diagnostic markers for treatment and control of schistosomiasis.
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