Résumé
Most mammalian and vector host species have acquired strategies by selective pressure to mislead the trypanosome and to win the fight during their molecular dialogue. Due to the same evolutionary pressure, trypanosomes have acquired strategies to bypass the host defences and to ensure the completion of their complex life cycles. Elucidation of these complex molecular crosstalks will improve the understanding of trypanosomes’ variability with respect to virulence and pathogenicity, will help to define trypansome-specific host biomarkers and will help to refine control strategies for African trypanosomoses. Advances in proteomics applications have provided new insights on African trypanosomes and on the biochemical interactions with their tsetse vectors and mammalian hosts. In this chapter, we present the interest of proteomics to characterise trypanosomes–hosts interactions, a synthetic review of proteomics studies performed on the parasite and its respective hosts, a discussion on the contributions and pitfalls of using diverse proteomics tools, a view for future prospects on proteomics dedicated to African trypanosomes and a projection of new conceptual approaches (i.e. metabolomics, interactomics, population proteomics) to accurately decipher insect vector–trypanosome–mammalian host interactions, with the idea of further developing new tools to improve trypanosomoses control.