ArticlePLoS pathogens2025
Host environment shapes filarial parasite fitness and Wolbachia endosymbionts dynamics.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Preclinical animal models for onchocerciasis and loiasis: A systematic review of applications in drug screening.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Fexinidazole and Corallopyronin A target Wolbachia-infected sheath cells present in filarial nematodes.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Filarial nematodes, responsible for diseases like lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, depend on symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria for reproduction and development. Using the Litomosoides sigmodontis rodent model, we investigated how host type-2 immunity influences Wolbachia dynamics and parasite development. Wild-type and type-2 immune-deficient (Il4rα⁻/⁻Il5⁻/⁻) BALB/c mice were infected with L. sigmodontis, and the distribution and abundance of Wolbachia were analyzed at different developmental stages using quantitative PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Our results show that type-2 immune environments selectively reduce germline Wolbachia in female filariae from wild-type mice, a change associated with disrupted oogenesis, embryogenesis, and microfilarial production, while somatic Wolbachia remain unaffected. Antibiotic treatments achieving systemic Wolbachia clearance result in similar reproductive impairments. Notably, Wolbachia-free microfilariae are observed shortly after Wolbachia depletion, suggesting that early-stage embryogenesis can proceed temporarily before progressive germline dysfunction ensues. Wolbachia-free microfilariae develop into infective larvae in the vector, but stall beyond the L4 stage in vertebrate hosts, showing arrested growth and reproductive organ maturation defects in both male and female larvae. These findings highlight the variable dependency on Wolbachia across life stages and provide insights into host-parasite-endosymbiont interactions shaped by environmental pressures.
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Registered trials
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