Human cell cytoskeletal rigidity differentially influences trogocytosis and phagocytosis by Entamoeba histolytica

Human cell cytoskeletal stiffness differentially shapes Entamoeba histolytica ingestion: trogocytosis drops on Rho-pathway knockdowns, while phagocytosis efficiency inversely correlates with stiffness.

• Why it matters: Prior work using artificially stiffened targets suggested a simple stiffness-to-ingestion mapping, but living-cell dynamics and gene-specific effects were unclear for amoebic trogocytosis versus phagocytosis.
• What they did: The study knocked down seven Rho-pathway genes in human cells to alter actomyosin dynamics, then quantified amoebic trogocytosis and measured phagocytosis efficiency across stiffness levels.
• The result: Trogocytosis was quantitatively reduced on all knockdown mutants, including both relatively stiffer and less stiff cells, whereas phagocytosis efficiency was inversely correlated with human cell stiffness.

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