Single-sex schistosomiasis: a mini review

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by dioecious blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma and second to malaria as a parasitic disease with significant socio-economic impacts. Mating is essential for maturation of male and female schistosomes and for females to lay of eggs, which are responsible for the pathogenesis and propagation of the life cycle beyond the mammalian host. Single-sex schistosomes, which do not produce viable eggs without mating, have been overlooked given the symptomatic paucity of the single-sex schistosomiasis and limited diagnostic toolkit. Besides, single-sex schistosomes are less sensitive to praziquantel. Therefore, these issues should be considered to achieve the elimination of this infection disease. The aim of this review is to summarize current progress in research of single-sex schistosomes and host-parasite interactions.

Keywords: host-parasite interaction; immune regulation; omics; schistosome; single-sex infection.

Figure 1

Different outcomes of single-sex schistosome-induced hepatic fibrosis. (A) Bisexual schistosome infection leads to severe liver fibrosis with large granuloma size and massive parasite/egg burden; (B) Bisexual schistosome infection after female infection leads to regressed liver fibrosis with smaller granuloma size, but no change in parasite/egg burden; (C) Bisexual schistosome infection after male infection leads to regressed liver fibrosis with regressed parasite/egg burden, but no change in granuloma size. This figure was created with Biorender.com. Arrows indicate the result of the next step.