Survival Strategies of Leishmania in Hosts

Abstract

In all major parasite groups, new and surprising evidence is emerging every day about the subtlety, complexity and diversity of avoidance mechanisms from host immune system. In the course of millions of years of evolutionary process, mammalian and sand fly hosts have developed defense systems against Leishmania, but Leishmania has not only escaped from their hosts’ defense systems through complex counter-strategies, but has also managed to manipulate them to support their own survival and reproduction. In this study, Leishmania’s survival strategies used in the sand fly and mammalian hosts and the mechanisms that underlie these strategies will be summarized.

Keywords

• Leishmania
• sand fly
• survival strategies
• lipophosphoglycan