Selective expression of variant surface antigens enables Plasmodium falciparum to evade immune clearance in vivo
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s41467-022-31741-2.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.55 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Chew, Marvin
Ye, Weijian
Omelianczyk, Radoslaw Igor
Pasaje, Charisse Flerida
Hoo, Regina
Chen, Qingfeng
Niles, Jacquin C
Chen, Jianzhu
Preiser, Peter
Date Issued
2022
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Chew, Marvin, Ye, Weijian, Omelianczyk, Radoslaw Igor, Pasaje, Charisse Flerida, Hoo, Regina et al. 2022. "Selective expression of variant surface antigens enables Plasmodium falciparum to evade immune clearance in vivo." Nature Communications, 13 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
AbstractPlasmodium falciparum has developed extensive mechanisms to evade host immune clearance. Currently, most of our understanding is based on in vitro studies of individual parasite variant surface antigens and how this relates to the processes in vivo is not well-understood. Here, we have used a humanized mouse model to identify parasite factors important for in vivo growth. We show that upregulation of the specific PfEMP1, VAR2CSA, provides the parasite with protection from macrophage phagocytosis and clearance in the humanized mice. Furthermore, parasites adapted to thrive in the humanized mice show reduced NK cell-mediated killing through interaction with the immune inhibitory receptor, LILRB1. Taken together, these findings reveal new insights into the molecular and cellular mechanisms that the parasite utilizes to coordinate immune escape in vivo. Identification and targeting of these specific parasite variant surface antigens crucial for immune evasion provides a unique approach for therapy.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/S41467-022-31741-2
