Role of Surface Carbohydrates in the Adaptation of Fasciola hepatica to the Intermediate Host Galba truncatula

The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica is one of the parasites with the greatest negative impact on livestock industry and is also a problem for people in some parts of the world. Lymnaeid snails ensure the multiplication of F. hepatica serving as an obligatory intermediate host and act as carriers of the parasite. However, there is no knowledge of the specific mechanisms, by which the F. hepatica is adapted to survive in its susceptible invertebrate host.

Surface carbohydrates are the essential participants in cell-to-cell interactions, including the parasite-snail interplay. They are recognized by carbohydrate-binding molecules and this is the beginning of the mechanisms by which parasites manage to utilize the specific snail host for development and multiplication.

In several studies, using lectin labeling, our team identified the carbohydrates associated with the snail-pathogenic larval stages of F. hepatica as well as on the tissues of main transmitter of fasciolosis Galba truncatula. The role of surface carbohydrates in the parasite's adaptation to this specific host including snail recognition, miracidial-to-sporocyst transformation and immune evasion has also been studied.

This review summarizes our results and provides an insight into the important role of surface carbohydrates interacted with carbohydrate-binding molecules and indicates that these interactions are among the determining factors for the transmission of F. hepatica by the specific vector G. truncatula.