Parasite of the Month
Trichomonas vaginalis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2020.01.010Get rights and content

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Key Facts

While parasite colonization is inhibited by protective lactobacilli in the vaginal microbiota, T. vaginalis and the bacteria causing bacterial vaginosis amplify disease synergistically.

Metabolic interactions with Mycoplasma enhance the growth and weaken the macrophage-mediated killing of T. vaginalis.

5-Nitromidazole treatment of trichomoniasis neither eliminates Mycoplasma nor counteracts the vaginal microbiome disturbances; hence novel therapies are necessary.

Despite hurdles of genome size

Disease Facts

Trichomoniasis is associated with poor birth outcomes and increased risks of HIV transmission and cervical cancer.

Parasite clumping is strain dependent. Size-variable microcolonies dysregulate epithelium permeability or promote its destruction.

Parasite extracellular vesicles are immunomodulatory, ‘priming’ host cells and parasites for adherence.

T. vaginalis-induced immunomodulation contributes to pathology, HIV spread, and immune evasion.

Neutrophils kill the parasites by trogocytosis, but

TAXONOMY AND CLASSIFICATION:

KINGDOM: Protozoa

PHYLUM: Parabasalia

CLASS: Trichomonadea

ORDER: Trichomonadida

FAMILY: Trichomonadidae

GENUS: Trichomonas

SPECIES: T. vaginalis

Acknowledgment

A.S.-B. thanks the Health Research Council of New Zealand for funding of the original research proposal on T. vaginalis and the vaginal microbiota (HRC 11/314); this led to many of the findings summarized here. The authors are grateful for the technical support on microscopy from Dr Adrian Turner and Ms Catherine Hobbis, University of Auckland.

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    Pathogenic microorganisms as the main causative factors of diverse infections can seriously have calamitous effects on public health worldwide [1]. The extracellular protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) is an example of a pathogenic microorganism which has been identified as the most prevalent non-viral agent of a sexually transmitted disease called trichomoniasis [2]. Typically, TV proliferation by binary fission occurs on the mucosal surface of the urogenital tract of both males and females although females are more prone than males to be exposed to this risk [3].

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    Some studies show that the infection plays an important role in the occurrence of cervical tumors, postoperative infections, and adverse pregnancy outcomes (Rajabpour et al., 2020) and is a significant factor for atypical pelvic inflammation and infertility (Wiringa et al., 2020), which impacts female reproductive function. In male patients, trichomoniasis is a cause of nongonococcal urethritis and chronic prostatitis (Aquino et al., 2020; Krieger, 1995) and a possible contributory factor in prostate cancer (Najafi et al., 2019), and the extracellular secretions of T. vaginalis can impair sperm activity, which affects male reproductive function (Roh et al., 2015). Mali et al. (2006) reported a case of phagocytic interaction and agglutinated human spermatozoa by T. vaginalis.

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    Currently, up to 20 % of trichomoniasis cases are resistant to imidazole derivatives. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new drugs with different mechanisms of action [4–9]. Trichomonas vaginalis has a highly repetitive genome, including many metabolic enzymes, such as the glycolytic enzyme triosephosphate isomerase (TvTIM), encoded by two functional genes; TvTIM1 and TvTIM2 [10].

  • Unveiling the role of EVs in anaerobic parasitic protozoa

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    Trichomonas vaginalis is the causative agent of trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection worldwide. The WHO estimates an incidence of 276 million new cases each year and prevalence of 187 million of infected individuals (Aquino et al., 2020; Menezes et al., 2016). The disease affects both genders, but it is more prevalent in women of reproductive age than men (WHO, 2018).

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