Brain Parasite Hijacks Immune Cells, and Uses Them to Survive
Indian Defence Review • • health
Key Points:
- Researchers at UVA Health discovered that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can infect CD8+ T cells, which are normally responsible for destroying infected cells, effectively hijacking the immune system to aid its survival.
- The enzyme caspase-8 within these T cells triggers apoptosis (cell death), preventing the parasite from completing its life cycle and limiting its spread in the brain.
- Mice lacking caspase-8 showed significantly higher parasite loads in the brain, severe illness, and death despite strong immune signaling, highlighting caspase-8’s crucial role in controlling infection.
- This survival mechanism is specific to CD8+ T cells, as deletion of caspase-8 in other brain cell types did not affect parasite levels or
