EXTRACELLULAR-MATRIX - A TOOL FOR DEFINING THE EXTRACORPOREAL FUNCTION OF PARASITE PROTEASES

The significance of cysteine protease activity present in excretory/se cretory products of the feeding stages of Haemonchus contortus is disc ussed here by Marcia Rhoads and Raymond Fetterer. Based, in part, on t he in vitro degradation and uptake of extracellular matrix components by live parasites, they argue that the cysteine proteases have an esse ntial extracorporeal function in the digestion of host tissues. They a lso outline the merits of the extracellular matrix model, which mimics the in vivo structure of connective tissue and basement membranes, in analyzing host-parasite interactions and (possibly) parasite developm ental processes.