The pentose phosphate pathway and parasitic protozoa.

The pentose phosphate pathway plays a crucial role in the host-parasite relationship. It maintains a pool of NADPH, which serves to protect against oxidant stress and which generates carbohydrate intermediates used in nucleotide and other biosynthetic pathways. Deficiency in the first enzyme of the pathway, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, protects human erythrocytes from infection with Plasmodium falciparum for reasons that remain obscure. Loss of the third enzyme of the pathway, 6-phosphogluconate de-hydrogenase, is toxic, suggesting this enzyme might be a target for chemotherapy. Mike Barrett here summarizes the roles of the pentose phosphate pathway in various parasitic protozoa.