Fibrinolysis and proliferative endarteritis: two related processes in chronic infections? The model of the blood-borne pathogen Dirofilaria immitis

Fibrinolysis and proliferative endarteritis: two related processes in chronic infections? The model of the blood-borne pathogen Dirofilaria immitis.

González-Miguel J, Morchón R, Siles-Lucas M, Simón F.

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 13;10(4):e0124445. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124445.

The interaction between blood-borne pathogens and fibrinolysis is one of the most important mechanisms that mediate invasion and the establishment of infectious agents in their hosts. However, overproduction of plasmin has been related to proliferation and migration of the arterial wall cells and degradation of the extracellular matrix. We have recently identified fibrinolysis-activating antigens from Dirofilaria immitis, a blood-borne parasite whose key pathological event is the proliferative endarteritis.

Here, we show that parasite actin and fructose-bisphosphate aldolase activate fibrinolysis, and that, long-term overproduction of plasmin can trigger pathological events similar to those described in the emergence of proliferative endarteritis. Due to the high degree of evolutionary conservation of these antigens, similar processes may occur in other blood-borne pathogens.