Leishmania Interferes with Host Cell Signaling to Devise a Survival Strategy

• Main Authors: Suvercha Bhardwaj, Neetu Srivastava, Raki Sudan, Bhaskar Saha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2010-01-01
• Series: Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/109189

The protozoan parasite Leishmania spp. exists as extracellular promastigotes in its vector whereas it resides and replicates as amastigotes within the macrophages of its mammalian host. As a survival strategy, Leishmania modulates macrophage functions directly or indirectly. The direct interference includes prevention of oxidative burst and the effector functions that lead to its elimination. The indirect effects include the antigen presentation and modulation of T cell functions in such a way that the effector T cells help the parasite survive by macrophage deactivation. Most of these direct and indirect effects are regulated by host cell receptor signaling that occurs through cycles of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation in cascades of kinases and phosphatases. This review highlights how Leishmania selectively manipulates the different signaling pathways to ensure its survival.