Selection and refinement: the malaria parasite's infection and exploitation of host hepatocytes

•Malaria sporozoites are highly selective for their hepatocyte host.•Malaria parasites refine the host during their liver stage of development.•Novel approaches and models will deepen our understanding of interactions between host and parasite.

Plasmodium parasites belong to the Apicomplexan phylum, which consists mostly of obligate intracellular pathogens that vary dramatically in host cell tropism. Plasmodium sporozoites are highly hepatophilic. The specific molecular mechanisms, which facilitate sporozoite selection and successful infection of hepatocytes, remain poorly defined. Here, we discuss the parasite and host factors which are critical to hepatocyte infection. We derive a model where sporozoites initially select host cells that constitute a permissive environment and then further refine the chosen hepatocyte during liver stage development, ensuring life cycle progression. While many unknowns of pre-erythrocytic infection remain, advancing models and technologies that enable analysis of human malaria parasites and of single infected cells will catalyze a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between the malaria parasite and its hepatocyte host.

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