ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Rendered image of <em>Chlamydia</em>
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System
The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System

The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.

The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.

  1. Home
  2. Subjects
  3. chlamydia

chlamydia

<em>Chlamydia</em> invades a host cell, forms a membrane-bound vacuole, or inclusion, and then modifies the protein composition of the structure&rsquo;s membrane. If immune cells detect <em>Chlamydia</em> before it forms the inclusion, they trigger T cells to produce interferon-&gamma; (IFN-&gamma;), a powerful cytokine. IFN-&gamma; activates the protein mysterin (also called RFN213), which attaches ubiquitin to the inclusion membrane, signaling the cell to destroy the inclusion&rsquo;s contents by dumping them into a lysosome (left). C. trachomatis produces GarD, a protein that integrates into the inclusion membrane itself and somehow prevents mysterin from attaching ubiquitin, allowing the bacterium to evade immune destruction while continuing to multiply and eventually bursting from the cell (right).
Infographic: How Chlamydia Evades Immune Detection
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.
Cross section of an organic cell with intracellular organelles
How Intracellular Bacteria Hijack Your Cells
Catherine Offord | Dec 1, 2022 | 10+ min read
Scientists studying pathogens such as Chlamydia, Legionella, and Listeria get a master class in how to control the internal workings of mammalian cells.
Julius Schachter, Renowned Chlamydia Researcher, Dies at 84
Max Kozlov | Jan 12, 2021 | 2 min read
The UCSF microbiologist pioneered investigations into the deadly disease starting in the late 1960s that have led to the near eradication of trachoma, a chlamydia-related eye infection.
Image of the Day: Koala Code
Sukanya Charuchandra | Jul 3, 2018 | 1 min read
Scientists have sequenced the koala’s genome.
Natural STD Protection for Women?
Kate Yandell | Feb 28, 2013 | 3 min read
An interferon found in the female reproductive tract may help guard against sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT