Research progress on calreticulin in parasitic helminths and its role in immunity

CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES ›› 2025, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (3): 416-422.doi: 10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2025.03.017

• Original article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research progress on calreticulin in parasitic helminths and its role in immunity

ZHAO Yuyuan1(), WANG Sirui1, WANG Mengqi1, DUAN Rui1, HE Peixia2, SUN Shumin1,2,*()()   

  1. 1 College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia, China
    2 College of Veterinary Medicine, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China
  • Received:2024-09-13 Revised:2024-11-27 Online:2025-06-30 Published:2025-06-18
  • Contact: E-mail:shums1975@163.com E-mail:3181767061@qq.com;shums1975@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31960707);National Natural Science Foundation of China(32160842);National Natural Science Foundation of China(32460893);Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Program(2022YFDZ0049);Basic scientific research funds for universities directly under the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(GXKY22042);Yunnan Province Special Project for Building a Science and Technology Innovation Center for South and Southeast Asia-Yunnan Province International Joint Research and Development Center for Veterinary Pharmaceuticals(202403AP140012)

Abstract:

Calreticulin is a soluble Ca2+-binding protein that is mainly present endoplasmic reticulum, which has a variety of biological functions, such as Ca2+ signal transduction, protein folding, and antigen presentation. The calreticulin of parasitic helminths is secreted by the worm body or expressed on the surface of the worm body, which plays an important role in the parasite motility, growth and development. In addition, the calreticulin of some helminths is strongly associated with its immune evasion process. This review summarizes the structure composition and function of calreticulin, and discusses the mechanisms underlying the regulation of host Th1/Th2 immune responses and the regulatory mechanisms of host immune cells, immune molecules and complement system by calreticulin, so as to provide new insights into management of helminthiasis.

Key words: Parasitic helminth, Calreticulin, Immune response, Immune evasion

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