BECAS
SALAS Nehuen
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Role of extracellular vesicles in parasite: parasite communication in Trichomonas vaginalis
Autor/es:
SALAS, NEHUEN; BLASCO-PEDREROS, MANUELA; DE MIGUEL, NATALIA
Reunión:
Congreso; Congreso SAIB 2022; 2022
Resumen:
Trichomonas vaginalis is a common sexually transmitted parasite that colonizes the human urogenital tract where it remains extracellular and adheres to epithelial cells. Infections range from asymptomatic to highly inflammatory, depending on the host and the parasite strain. Due to the great prevalence of T. vaginalis, mixed infections with several parasite strains are expected. An analysis of 211 T. vaginalis samples isolated in five different continents identified 10.9 % mixed infections. In these cases, the interaction of isolates with distinct phenotypic characteristics may have significant clinical repercussions. Although it is regarded as self evident that parasites interact with their hosts to enhance their own survival and transmission, the extent to which unicellular parasites communicate with each has been severely underestimated. Here, we demonstrated that different T. vaginalis strains are able to communicate through the formation of cytoneme-like membranous cell-to-cell connections. We demonstrated that cytoneme formation of an adherent parasite strain (CDC1132) is affected in the presence of G3 and PA strains. Additionally, using a transwell assays, we demonstrated that the effect in cytoneme formation is contact independent and that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are responsible, at least in part, of the communication among T. vaginalis strains. Finally, we observed that parasite adherence to host cells is affected by these communication between parasites. Importanly, we observed that a poorly adherent parasite strain (G3) adheres more strongly to prostate cells in the presence if an adherent strain is loaded in the transwell compared to the presence of G3 itself. The study of signaling, sensing and cell communication in parasitic organisms will surely enhance our understanding of the basic biological characteristics of parasites and reveal new potential clinical outcomes.