Chlamydia

DURHAM, N.C. – Chlamydia, the leading cause of sexually transmitted bacterial infections, evades detection and elimination inside human cells by use of a ...

“There’s then the potential for the pathogen to be cleared before it can cause disease.” “How is the immune system able to find the rare vacuole that contains a pathogen? “So there’s this really fine-tuned adaptation that the pathogen has undergone.” The mouse version of the bacterial inclusion was readily identified and labeled for destruction in human cells. Having blinded mysterin in this fashion, the signal for immune flagging and destruction is never started. “Mouse- and human-adapted Chlamydia have a common ancestor,” Coers said. “We knew there was the potential to kill Chlamydia, but when we did experiments with the human-adapted form, Chlamydia trachomatis, it was very good at growing in human cell cultures,” Coers said.