More than 25% of the world's population, and about 10% of Americans over age 12, are thought to be chronically infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma, often due to eating undercooked or raw meat.
 This pathogen has two asexual stages, the rapidly growing tachyzoite during initial infection, followed by the slow-growing bradyzoite, which forms tissue cysts primarily in muscle and neurological tissues. Drug treatments can expunge the former, but the cyst wall is thought to protect the latter stage from the host's immune system, enabling lifelong infection. Now Kerry R. Buchholz of Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., et al. have conducted the first transcriptomic investigation of in vivo-derived bradyzoites. Among other things, they have identified two proteins that are likely to be critical to cyst formation and parasite transmission. This information could eventually lead to a vaccine or a novel drug target, "for clearing this stage of the parasite, a feat not yet accomplished by any other treatment," says Buchholz.
(K. R. Buchholz, H. M. Fritz, X. Chen, B. Durbin-Johnson, D. M. Rocke, D. J. Ferguson, P. A. Conrad, and J. C. Boothroyd. 2011. Identification of tissue cyst wall composnents by transcriptome analysis of in vivo and in vitro Toxoplasma gondii bradyzoites. Eukaryot. Cell 10:1637-1647.) |
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