Schistosomiasis caused by trematode parasites, the Schistosoma blood flukes, represents one of the most serious chronic infection in the developing world with more than 200 million people infected and many more at risk. Schistosomes are able to infect many mammalian host including humans. Their surviving strategies based on molecular level represent “state of art” among host-parasite interactions. The ability of schistosomes to survive in the mammalian hosts for decades is due to their ability to influence host physiological processes employing various modulatory protein molecules in order to survive and reproduce. Disrupting of these mechanisms by specific drug/vaccine treatment targeting parasite molecules may lead in potential diseases treatment. Modulating factors of schistosomes represent attractive subject for pharmacology as well. My research background is mostly based on the studies of proteolytic enzymes. Proteases (proteolytic enzymes, peptidases, peptide hydrolases) provide essential functions in all life forms including parasitic organism. So far, very little is known about many groups of proteolytic enzymes which can be found through the Schistosoma mansoni genome project (http://www.genedb.org/genedb/smansoni/). Besides of relatively well characterized enzymes associated with skin invasion and blood digestion, there are groups of proteases which were surprisingly neglected. Many of these enzymes share high homology with various mammalian proteolytic regulatory factors. Main goal of our project is focused on the proteases of S. mansoni expressed during infection of their mammalian hosts. We hypothesize that these enzymes play have significant role in host-parasite interactions.
A large collection of helminths is available for comparative studies...
