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. 2008 May 1;118(5):1974. doi: 10.1172/JCI27798C1

Blood-brain barrier traversal by African trypanosomes requires calcium signaling induced by parasite cysteine protease

Olga V Nikolskaia, Ana Paula C de A Lima, Yuri V Kim, John D Lonsdale-Eccles, Toshihide Fukuma, Julio Scharfstein, Dennis J Grab
PMCID: PMC2350367

Original citation: J. Clin. Invest. 116:2739-2747 (2006). doi:10.1172/JCI27798.

Citation for this erratum: J. Clin. Invest. 118:1974 (2008). doi:10.1172/JCI27798C1.

The Trypanosoma species used in this study included a clinically relevant human CSF isolate and bloodstream form (BSF) from a patient with sleeping sickness. A cloned derivative from this parasite termed “IL1852” was originally identified as a T.b. gambiense and was denoted accordingly in the manuscript.

However, the authors recently discovered that IL1852 contains the SRA gene, a characteristic only encountered in T.b. rhodesiense (1). Therefore, because ILRI T.b. gambiense IL2343, a clone derivative of STIB386AA that was derived from TH144/78E(020), was later reclassified as a T.b. rhodesiense (2), the authors have reclassified IL1852 as a T.b. rhodesiense to maintain accuracy.

While the reclassification affects certain aspects of the conclusions of this work, it does not invalidate the key finding of a difference in the BBB traversal between human and animal trypanosomes that correlates with the greater incidence of CNS infection in human compared with animal parasites.

References

  • 1.Welburn S.C., et al. Identification of human-infective trypanosomes in animal reservoir of sleeping sickness in Uganda by means of serum-resistance–associated (SRA) gene. Lancet. 1990;358:2017–2019. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(01)07096-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Hide G., Cattand P., LeRay D., Barry J.D., Tait A. The identification of Trypanosoma brucei subspecies using repetitive DNA sequences. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 1990;39:213–225. doi: 10.1016/0166-6851(90)90060-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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