Role of cytoneme structures and extracellular vesicles in Trichomonas vaginalis parasite: Parasite communication

• Autores: Salas, Nehuen; Blasco Pedreros, Manuela Pia; dos Santos Melo, Tuanne; Maguire, Vanina Giselle; Sha, Jihui; Wohlschlegel, James A.; Pereira Neves, Antonio; de Miguel, Natalia
• Año de publicación: 2023
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: PARASITE; COMMUNICATION; VESICLES; TRICHOMONAS; FILOPODIA; PATHOGENESIS
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Trichomonas vaginalis, the etiologic agent of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection worldwide, colonizes the human urogenital tract where it remains extracellular and adheres to epithelial cells. With an estimated annual prevalence of 276 million new cases, mixed infections with different parasite strains are expected. Although it is considered as obvious that parasites interact with their host to enhance their own survival and transmission, evidence of mixed infections call into question the extent to which unicellular parasites communicate with each other. Here, we demonstrated that different T. vaginalis strains can communicate through the formation of cytoneme-like membranous cell connections. We showed that T. vaginalis adherent strains form abundant membrane protrusions and cytonemes formation of an adherent parasite strain (CDC1132) is affected in the presence of a different strain (G3 or B7RC2). Using cell culture inserts assays, we demonstrated that the effect in cytoneme formation is contact-independent and that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are responsible, at least in part, of the communication among strains. We found that EVs isolated from G3, B7RC2, and CDC1132 strains contain a highly distinct repertoire of proteins, some of them involved in signaling and communication, among other functions. Finally, we showed that parasite adherence to host cells is affected by this communication between strains as binding of adherent T. vaginalis CDC1132 strain to prostate cells is significantly higher in the presence of G3 or B7RC2 strains. Demonstrating that interaction of isolates with distinct phenotypic characteristics may have significant clinical repercussions, we also observed that a poorly adherent parasite strain (G3) adheres more strongly to prostate cells in the presence of an adherent strain. The study of signaling, sensing, and cell communication in parasitic organisms will surely enhance our understanding of the basic biological characteristics of parasites, which may have important consequences in pathogenesis.
Fil: Salas, Nehuen. Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - la Plata. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus.; Argentina
Fil: Blasco Pedreros, Manuela Pia. Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - la Plata. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus.; Argentina
Fil: dos Santos Melo, Tuanne. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães; Brasil
Fil: Maguire, Vanina Giselle. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Córdoba. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Manfredi; Argentina
Fil: Sha, Jihui. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados Unidos
Fil: Wohlschlegel, James A.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados Unidos
Fil: Pereira Neves, Antonio. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães; Brasil
Fil: de Miguel, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - la Plata. Instituto Tecnologico de Chascomus.; Argentina