The effect of immunodeficiency on the evolution of virulence: an experimental test with the rodent malaria Plasmodium chabaudi.
Am Nat
; 184 Suppl 1: S47-57, 2014 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25061677
ABSTRACT
Host immunity plays an important role in the evolution of pathogen virulence and disease emergence. There is increasing theoretical and empirical evidence that enhanced immunity through vaccination may have the unfortunate side effect of selecting for more virulent parasites, but the effect of host immune suppression on pathogen evolution is less clear. Here, we use serial passage experiments in mice to test how immune-suppressed hosts may alter pathogen virulence evolution. We passaged Plasmodium chabaudi through CD4(+) T cell-depleted or control mice every 7 days for 20 weeks and then measured virulence differences during infection of immunologically normal mice. We found that those parasites that had been selected through CD4(+) T cell-depleted mice were more virulent than parasites selected through control mice. Virulence increases during serial passage are believed to be caused by pathogen adaptation to the passage host. These data suggest that immune-suppressed hosts could provide a within-host environment that lowers the barrier to parasite adaptation and promotes the evolution of virulence.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Plasmodium chabaudi
/
Evolução Biológica
/
Malária
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article