Apoptosis and apoptotic mimicry in leishmania: strategies for a successful infection

Authors

  • Michelle Marini Horikawa Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas. Departamento de Parasitologia
  • Maurício Scavassini Peña Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas. Departamento de Parasitologia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7594/revbio.6b.07

Keywords:

Programmed cell death, apoptosis, apoptotic mimicry, Leishmania, phosphatidylserine

Abstract

Apoptosis is an essential process for multicellular organisms, important for removing unwanted cells and regulating the number of cells in the organism. The cells in apoptosis do not induce an inflammatory reaction and are silently removed by phagocytes. This type of cell death also occurs in unicellular organisms and appears to have the same features found in metazoans. Studies in Leishmania have shown that this parasite is able to mimic and use one of the phenomena observed in apoptosis, phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, as an adaptive mechanism to establish infection in mammals. We show in this review the strategies associated with apoptosis used by Leishmania that enable them to evade the host immune response resulting in their survival and proliferation

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Published

2018-04-23

How to Cite

Horikawa, M. M., & Peña, M. S. (2018). Apoptosis and apoptotic mimicry in leishmania: strategies for a successful infection. Revista Da Biologia, 6(2), 32-37. https://doi.org/10.7594/revbio.6b.07