Plasmodium falciparum parasites causing cerebral malaria share variant surface antigens, but are they specific?

Malaria Journal

Research

Nicaise Tuikue-Ndam¹  Nabila Kheliouen²  Philippe Deloron²  Agnès Aubouy³  Francis Lalya⁴  Firmine Viwami⁵  Christophe Rogier⁶  Else C Eboumbou Moukoko⁷ 

[1] Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) UMR216, Mother and Child faced with tropical infections Unit, 75006, Paris, France;Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) UMR216, Mother and Child faced with tropical infections Unit, 75006, Paris, France;Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Paris Descartes, 75270, Paris, France;Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) UMR216, Mother and Child faced with tropical infections Unit, 75006, Paris, France;UMR216 IRD, Cotonou, Benin;Paediatric Department, Centre National Hospitalo-Universitaire (CNHU), Cotonou, Benin;UMR216 IRD, Cotonou, Benin;Unité de recherche en biologie et épidémiologie parasitaires, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées - Antenne de Marseille & Unité de recherche en maladies infectieuses et tropicales émergentes, UMR6236, Marseille, France;Unité de recherche en biologie et épidémiologie parasitaires, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées - Antenne de Marseille & Unité de recherche en maladies infectieuses et tropicales émergentes, UMR6236, Marseille, France;Département des Sciences Biologiques, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Université de Douala, BP2701, Douala, Cameroun;

关键词: Malaria;    Severe Malaria;    Cerebral Malaria;    Mean Fluorescence Intensity;    Uncomplicated Malaria;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2875-9-220

 received in 2010-04-26, accepted in 2010-07-27,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundVariant surface antigens (VSA) expressed on the surface of Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells constitute a key for parasite sequestration and immune evasion. In distinct malaria pathologies, such as placental malaria, specific antibody response against VSA provides protection. This study investigated the antibody response specifically directed against VSA expressed by parasites isolated from individuals presenting a given type of clinical presentation.MethodsPlasma and isolates were obtained from four groups of Beninese subjects: healthy adults, patients presenting uncomplicated malaria (UM), cerebral malaria (CM), or pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM). The reactivity of plasma samples from each clinical group was measured by flow cytometry against parasites isolated from individuals from each clinical group.ResultsAntibody responses against VSAUM were predominant in CM, UM and HA plasmas. When analysed according to age in all plasma groups, anti-VSACM and -VSAUM antibody levels were similar until six years of age. In older groups (6-18 and >19 years of age), VSAUM antibody levels were higher than VSACM antibody levels (P = .01, P = .0008, respectively). Mean MFI values, measured in all plasmas groups except the PAM plasmas, remained low for anti-VSAPAM antibodies and did not vary with age. One month after infection the level of anti-VSA antibodies able to recognize heterologous VSACM variants was increased in CM patients. In UM patients, antibody levels directed against heterologous VSAUM were similar, both during the infection and one month later.ConclusionsIn conclusion, this study suggests the existence of serologically distinct VSACM and VSAUM. CM isolates were shown to share common epitopes. Specific antibody response to VSAUM was predominant, suggesting a relative low diversity of VSAUM in the study area.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Kheliouen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.