Heat Shock Proteins in Leptospirosis

Abstract

Leptospirosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira spirochetes remains an important zoonotic disease worldwide. Like many other dimorphic bacterial pathogens, leptospires have abilities to adapt themselves to survive in a wide range of environmental conditions outside and inside the infected hosts. Recent investigations using genomics and proteomics approaches have revealed that several heat shock proteins (HSP) encoded by the conserved immunodominant antigenic region of Hsp genes among the pathogenic leptospires are associated with their adaption to survive, infectivity and virulence. Understanding how HSP are differentially expressed and regulated during leptospiral infection is thus crucial to develop better serodiagnostic test and vaccine for clinical use. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge of HSP expression and their roles in leptospirosis and also extensively discusses future perspectives of this arena to battle leptospirosis with the ultimate goals for better therapeutic outcome and successful prevention.