advances in understanding molecular pathogenesis of leptospira and leptospirosis

leptospirosis is a disease transmitted from animals to humans, by aerobic spirochete of the genus leptospira, one of the re-emerging tropical infectious disease distributed worldwide. the infection is acquired by contamination with urine or reproductive fluids from infected animals. there are more than 200 recognized antigenic serovars of pathogenic leptospires which have complicated our understanding on this genus pathogenicity. the outer membrane proteins (omps) and adhesins of the extracellular matrix are expressed by the leptospires, the leptospiral proteins includes: liga/b, lsa21, lsa27, lsa63, lsa24 (lfha/lena) lenb to f, lipl32, lp95, tlyc, and lipl53 that have shown affinity to adhere to host ligands in vitro. leptospira infection, regardless of being pathogenic microorganism, on the other hand is influenced by other host proteins belonging to multiple biological classes. the leptospires may damage the endothelial cells via multiple cascades or pathways including endothelial barrier damage and inflammation, potentially leading to vascular hyperpermeability and severe illness in vivo. this review provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of leptospira infection.