Tick salivary glycans - a sugar-coated tick bite

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Saliva, Salivary Gland, and Hemolymph Collection from Ixodes scapularis Ticks
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Saliva, Salivary Gland, and Hemolymph Collection from Ixodes scapularis Ticks

Published on: February 21, 2012

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Shahid Karim1, Juan Manuel Leyva-Castillo2, Sukanya Narasimhan3

  • 1University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.

Trends in Parasitology
|October 14, 2023
PubMed

Ticks are hematophagous arthropods that transmit disease-causing pathogens worldwide. Tick saliva deposited into the tick-bite site is composed of an array of immunomodulatory proteins that ensure successful feeding and pathogen transmission. These salivary proteins are often glycosylated, and glycosylation is potentially critical for the function of these proteins. Some salivary glycans are linked to the phenomenon of red meat allergy - an allergic response to red meat consumption in humans exposed to certain tick species. Tick salivary glycans are also invoked in the phenomenon of acquired tick resistance wherein non-natural host species exposed to tick bites develop an immune response that thwarts subsequent tick feeding. This review dwells on our current knowledge of these two phenomena, thematically linked by salivary glycans.

Keywords:
Th2 responseacquired tick resistancealpha-Galalpha-Gal syndromeglycosylationtick saliva

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