Sleeping Sickness Parasite Trypanosomiasis Eats Antibodies

Scientists at the TU Darmstadt, Germany, and the Max-Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany, have discovered how the parasites responsible for causing the deadly disease Trypanosomiasis escape the human immune system. Trypanosomiasis is more commonly known as sleeping sickness. The parasites causing the disease eat the antibodies produced by the human immune system.

Trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a parasitic disease that can affect people and animals. The disease causing parasite(Trypanosoma brucei) is transmitted by the tsetse fly. The disease, if left untreated, can lead to fatigue, sleep disorders, mental detereoration, coma, and lastely death. The area south of the African Sahara is the main risk area for contracting the disease. Sixty million people live in that area and thousands of people succumb to the disease each year.

There are treatments available to fight the disease. However, until now researchers have been unable to determine how the parasites can survive in the human blood stream despite attempts by the immune system of an infected patient to fight them off. Even though the immune system produces an ever increasing amount of antibodies to ward of the invasion of parasites, it does not seem to have any effect on the parasites.

The team of German scientists under the lead of Markus Engstler of the TU Darmstadt, Germany, has now determined how the parasite escape the antibodies. According to the scientists, the parasites continuously swim in the same direction which creates a current. Through the suction of the current the antibodies are transported to the back of the parasitic cell. Once the antibodies are at the end of the parasitic cell, they get absorbed into the parasitic cell through the 'cell mouth'. This allows the parasite to digest the antibodies. This blocks the antibodies from alarming the immune system of the location of the parasite.

The scientists used genetic manipulation in a laboratory setting to proof their discovery. Through the genetic manipulation the parasites were put into 'swim backwards' mode. This caused the antibodies to move to the front instead of the back of the parasitic cell. The parasites were unable to absorb the antibodies, which would allow for the antibodies to prompt an immune system response.

This would also explain, why the parasites keep swimming against the faster flowing human blood stream. If they stop, they get detected and destroyed.

This discovery may eventually lead to a new and faster therapy method to treat trypanosomiasis.