Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jun 25;11(7):1254.
doi: 10.3390/antiox11071254.

Ambivalent Roles of Oxidative Stress in Triangular Relationships among Arthropod Vectors, Pathogens and Hosts

Emmanuel Pacia Hernandez  1 , Anisuzzaman  2 , Md Abdul Alim  2 , Hayato Kawada  1   3 , Kofi Dadzie Kwofie  1   4 , Danielle Ladzekpo  1   4   5 , Yuki Koike  3 , Takahiro Inoue  3 , Sana Sasaki  3 , Fusako Mikami  1 , Makoto Matsubayashi  6 , Tetsuya Tanaka  7 , Naotoshi Tsuji  1   3 , Takeshi Hatta  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Ambivalent Roles of Oxidative Stress in Triangular Relationships among Arthropod Vectors, Pathogens and Hosts

Emmanuel Pacia Hernandez et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Blood-feeding arthropods, particularly ticks and mosquitoes are considered the most important vectors of arthropod-borne diseases affecting humans and animals. While feeding on blood meals, arthropods are exposed to high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) since heme and other blood components can induce oxidative stress. Different ROS have important roles in interactions among the pathogens, vectors, and hosts. ROS influence various metabolic processes of the arthropods and some have detrimental effects. In this review, we investigate the various roles of ROS in these arthropods, including their innate immunity and the homeostasis of their microbiomes, that is, how ROS are utilized to maintain the balance between the natural microbiota and potential pathogens. We elucidate the mechanism of how ROS are utilized to fight off invading pathogens and how the arthropod-borne pathogens use the arthropods' antioxidant mechanism to defend against these ROS attacks and their possible impact on their vector potentials or their ability to acquire and transmit pathogens. In addition, we describe the possible roles of ROS in chemical insecticide/acaricide activity and/or in the development of resistance. Overall, this underscores the importance of the antioxidant system as a potential target for the control of arthropod and arthropod-borne pathogens.

Keywords: ROS; acaricide; insecticide resistance; microbiome; mosquitoes; oxidative stress; ticks.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of the life cycle of the pathogen (A) after infection of the arthropod versus the arthropod-borne pathogen’s (B) life cycle and its interaction with ROS. Created with Biorender.com (accessed on 10 May 2022).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic diagram on the activity of the phytochemicals and its possible mode of activity to cause mortality. Created with Biorender.com (accessed on 10 May 2022).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gubler D.J. Vector-borne diseases. Rev. Sci. Tech. 2009;28:583–588. doi: 10.20506/rst.28.2.1904. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ferreira C.M., Oliveira M.P., Paes M.C., Oliveira M.F. Modulation of mitochondrial metabolism as a biochemical trait in blood feeding organisms: The redox vampire hypothesis redux. Cell Biol. Int. 2018;42:683–700. doi: 10.1002/cbin.10945. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anisuzzaman, Islam M.K., Alim M.A., Miyoshi T., Hatta T., Yamaji K., Matsumoto Y., Fujisaki K., Tsuji N. Longistatin, a plasminogen activator, is key to the availability of blood-meals for ixodid ticks. PLoS Pathog. 2011;7:e1001312. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1001312. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anisuzzaman, Islam M.K., Alim M.A., Miyoshi T., Hatta T., Yamaji K., Matsumoto Y., Fujisaki K., Tsuji N. Longistatin is an unconventional serine protease and induces protective immunity against tick infestation. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 2012;182:45–53. doi: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2011.12.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anisuzzaman, Hatta T., Miyoshi T., Matsubayashi M., Islam M.K., Alim M.A., Anas M.A., Hasan M.M., Matsumoto Y., Yamamoto Y., et al. Longistatin in tick saliva blocks advanced glycation end-product receptor activation. J. Clin. Investig. 2014;124:4429–4444. doi: 10.1172/JCI74917. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources