TY - JOUR
T1 - Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete
T2 - Making a living as a stealth pathogen
AU - Radolf, Justin D.
AU - Deka, Ranjit K.
AU - Anand, Arvind
AU - Šmajs, David
AU - Norgard, Michael V.
AU - Yang, X. Frank
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - The past two decades have seen a worldwide resurgence in infections caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the syphilis spirochete. The well-recognized capacity of the syphilis spirochete for early dissemination and immune evasion has earned it the designation 'the stealth pathogen'. Despite the many hurdles to studying syphilis pathogenesis, most notably the inability to culture and to genetically manipulate T. pallidum, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in elucidating the structural, physiological, and regulatory facets of T. pallidum pathogenicity. In this Review, we integrate this eclectic body of information to garner fresh insights into the highly successful parasitic lifestyles of the syphilis spirochete and related pathogenic treponemes.
AB - The past two decades have seen a worldwide resurgence in infections caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the syphilis spirochete. The well-recognized capacity of the syphilis spirochete for early dissemination and immune evasion has earned it the designation 'the stealth pathogen'. Despite the many hurdles to studying syphilis pathogenesis, most notably the inability to culture and to genetically manipulate T. pallidum, in recent years, considerable progress has been made in elucidating the structural, physiological, and regulatory facets of T. pallidum pathogenicity. In this Review, we integrate this eclectic body of information to garner fresh insights into the highly successful parasitic lifestyles of the syphilis spirochete and related pathogenic treponemes.
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U2 - 10.1038/nrmicro.2016.141
DO - 10.1038/nrmicro.2016.141
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27721440
AN - SCOPUS:84990911171
SN - 1740-1526
VL - 14
SP - 744
EP - 759
JO - Nature Reviews Microbiology
JF - Nature Reviews Microbiology
IS - 12
ER -