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Review
. 2014 Aug;12(8):575-84.
doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3298. Epub 2014 Jun 30.

The molecular arms race between African trypanosomes and humans

Etienne Pays  1 , Benoit Vanhollebeke  1 , Pierrick Uzureau  2 , Laurence Lecordier  1 , David Pérez-Morga  1
Affiliations
Review

The molecular arms race between African trypanosomes and humans

Etienne Pays et al. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Humans can survive bloodstream infection by African trypanosomes, owing to the activity of serum complexes that have efficient trypanosome-killing ability. The two trypanosome subspecies that are responsible for human sleeping sickness--Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense--can evade this defence mechanism by expressing distinct resistance proteins. In turn, sequence variation in the gene that encodes the trypanosome-killing component in human serum has enabled populations in western Africa to restore resistance to T. b. rhodesiense, at the expense of the high probability of developing kidney sclerosis. These findings highlight the importance of resistance to trypanosomes in human evolution.

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