Encystation in Entamoeba invadens

Knowledge of the biology and pathogenesis of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica has been limited by the lack of efficient procedures to induce axenic encystation in the laboratory. However, such methods have been developed for E. invadens, a reptilian parasite, for which encystation can be induced by mechanisms that are as yet poorly defined. This has allowed the analysis of some morphological, physiological and biochemical events that accompany differentiation into cysts. Elucidation of these changes will lead to a better understanding of the process and therefore to the possibility of controlling it. Here, Everardo López-Romero and Julio Cézar Villagómez-Castro emphasize the metabolism of cyst-wall polymers as a potential target to inhibit cyst formation with specific drugs that would be in principle, harmless to the host.