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Membrane lipid composition protects Entamoeba histolytica from self‐destruction by its pore‐forming toxins
Author(s) -
Andrä Jörg,
Berninghausen Otto,
Leippe Matthias
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(04)00324-2
Subject(s) - entamoeba histolytica , cytolysis , liposome , effector , lytic cycle , membrane , phospholipid , biology , jurkat cells , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , chemistry , cytotoxicity , virology , in vitro , t cell , virus , immune system , immunology
The protozoan parasite and human pathogen Entamoeba histolytica is protected against killing by its own lytic effector proteins. Amoebae withstand doses of amoebapores, their pore‐forming polypeptides, that readily kill human Jurkat T cells. Moreover, the polypeptides do not bind to the amoebic surface membrane as evidenced by using fluorescently labelled amoebapores and confocal laser microscopy. Experiments employing liposomes as a minimalistic membrane system and the major isoform amoebapore A revealed that the lipid composition of amoebic membranes prevents binding of the cytolytic molecule and that both the phospholipid ingredients and the high content of cholesterol contributes to the protection of the toxin‐producing cell.