| RESEARCH NOTE - The Tegument of Schistosoma mansoni: Genes, Antigens and the Host-Parasite Relationship (1998) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Cercaria, the infective larvae of Schistosoma mansoni are released from a molluscan host and must penetrate the skin of the human host within several hours in order to continue the life-cycle of the parasite. Thus, after release, the parasite progresses from a transient life in fresh water to a new parasitic existence initially in the skin and subsequently in the bloodstream of the host. The parasite undergoes adaptative changes to effect this transition, many of them at the level of the tegument. Although some of these alterations constitute mechanisms to avoid the immune defense, paradoxically, many antigens, targets of the immune response against the schistosome, are also associated with the tegument. | |||||||||||||||||
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