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Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying Behavior of Acanthamoeba to Develop Targeted Strategies for Preventing Acanthamoeba Keratitis
Published on: September 20, 2024
Acanthamoeba, an environmental phagocyte enhancing survival and transmission of human pathogens
Binod Rayamajhee1, Mark D P Willcox1, Fiona L Henriquez2
1School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
Abstract:
The opportunistic protist Acanthamoeba, which interacts with other microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, shows significant similarity in cellular and functional aspects to human macrophages. Intracellular survival of microbes in this microbivorous amoebal host may be a crucial step for initiation of infection in higher eukaryotic cells. Therefore, Acanthamoeba-microbe adaptations are considered an evolutionary model of macrophage-pathogen interactions. This paper reviews Acanthamoeba as an emerging human pathogen and different ecological interactions between Acanthamoeba and microbes that may serve as environmental training grounds and a genetic melting pot for the evolution, persistence, and transmission of potential human pathogens.
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