Abstract
Parasites are highly complex eukaryotic pathogens that represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality in humans and livestock. Endoparasites (those that invade the host) exist in two phylogenetic groups: unicellular protozoa and helminths. The interaction of parasites with the immune system has several distinguishing features that are of special interest to fundamental immunologists. Most parasitic pathogens are able to survive the initial host response and produce long-lasting chronic infections designed to promote transmission. The development of chronicity depends not only on the ability of the parasite to escape protective immune responses (immune evasion) but also on the generation of finely tuned mechanisms of immunoregulation that serve both to prevent parasite elimination and suppress host immunopathology. The study of these immunomodulatory pathways in both human and experimental parasitic infections has yielded important insights concerning the mechanisms by which T lymphocytes and cytokines control immune effector functions in vivo. In addition, studies in host-parasite systems have played a major role in elucidating the pathways by which CD4+ T-cells with different effector activities are triggered during antigenic encounter.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the major contributions of our colleagues Edward Pearce, Tom Wynn, Caetano Reis e Sousa, Marika Kullberg, Julio Aliberti, John Anderson, Jesus Valenzuela, Felix Yarovinsky and Svenja Steinfelder to these studies over the past two decades. The work summarized in this chapter was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Sher, A., Jankovic, D. (2010). Lessons from Parasites on CD4+ T-Cell Subset Differentiation and Function. In: Georgiev, V. (eds) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH. Infectious Disease. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-512-5_15
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