Molecular chaperones in pathogen virulence: emerging new targets for therapy.

Infectious organisms have to cope with demanding and rapidly changing environments during establishment in the host. This is particularly relevant for pathogens that utilize different hosts to complete their life cycle. In addition to homeotic environmental challenges, other stressful factors, such as oxidative bursts, are often triggered in response to infection. It is not surprising that many successful pathogens have developed robust chaperone systems to conquer the stressful environments in the host. In addition to discussing ingenious ways by which pathogens have utilized chaperones, the potential of exploiting pathogen chaperones as drug targets is also discussed.