Stem Cell Technologies meet Stem Cell Biology to Shine New Light into Tropical Infectious Diseases

Book excerpt: The aim of this collection of articles is to assemble advances in stem cell-based approaches and their application to the study of parasitic diseases. Tropical parasites, including unicellular protozoan organisms and helminths, represent a major public health burden, particularly in tropical regions of the world. The study of these organisms is significantly hampered by the lack of effective in vitro/ ex vivo culture systems that mimic natural conditions and facilitate a thorough understanding of parasite development and host-parasite interactions. The advent of stem cell technology offers the opportunity to derive the right cell types to culture these parasites. Moreover, stem cell-derived organoids accurately reproduce the particular niche in which the parasites grow, develop, interact with host tissues and reproduce. In addition, particularly for helminths (i.e., multicellular parasites), the identification and characterisation of the parasite’s stem cell system, will be critical to complement our current and future understanding of fundamental biological processes, such as worm maturation, and interaction with the host immune system and microbiota.