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Review
. 2023 Sep 15;8(9):448.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed8090448.

Extracellular Vesicles and Their Impact on the Biology of Protozoan Parasites

Manu Sharma  1 , Daniela Lozano-Amado  1 , Debabrata Chowdhury  1 , Upinder Singh  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Extracellular Vesicles and Their Impact on the Biology of Protozoan Parasites

Manu Sharma et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid-membrane-bound structures produced naturally by all cells and have a variety of functions. EVs act as vehicles for transporting important molecular signals from one cell to another. Several parasites have been shown to secrete EVs, and their biological functions have been extensively studied. EVs have been shown to facilitate communication with the host cells (such as modulation of the host's immune system or promoting attachment and invasion into the host cells) or for communication between parasitic cells (e.g., transferring drug-resistance genes or factors modulating stage conversion). It is clear that EVs play an important role in host-parasite interactions. In this review, we summarized the latest research on the EVs secreted by protozoan parasites and their role in host-parasite and parasite-parasite communications.

Keywords: extracellular vesicles; immune response; intercellular communication; protozoa.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of the biological functions mediated by EVs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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