Korean J Parasitol.  2019 Apr;57(2):101-115. 10.3347/kjp.2019.57.2.101.

Characterization of Plasmodium berghei Homologues of T-cell Immunomodulatory Protein as a New Potential Candidate for Protecting against Experimental Cerebral Malaria

• Cui A
• Li Y
• Zhou X
• Wang L
• Luo E

• KMID: 2448141
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2019.57.2.101

Abstract

The pathogenesis of cerebral malaria is biologically complex and involves multi-factorial mechanisms such as microvascular congestion, immunopathology by the pro-inflammatory cytokine and endothelial dysfunction. Recent data have suggested that a pleiotropic T-cell immunomodulatory protein (TIP) could effectively mediate inflammatory cytokines of mammalian immune response against acute graft-versus-host disease in animal models. In this study, we identified a conserved homologue of TIP in Plasmodium berghei (PbTIP) as a membrane protein in Plasmodium asexual stage. Compared with PBS control group, the pathology of experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) in rPbTIP intravenous injection (i.v.) group was alleviated by the downregulation of pro-inflammatory responses, and rPbTIP i.v. group elicited an expansion of regulatory T-cell response. Therefore, rPbTIP i.v. group displayed less severe brain pathology and feverish mice in rPbTIP i.v. group died from ECM. This study suggested that PbTIP may be a novel promising target to alleviate the severity of ECM.

Keyword

Plasmodium berghei; T-cell immunomodulatory protein; inflammatory cytokine; experimental; cerebral malaria; immunopathology

MeSH Terms

Animals
Brain
Cytokines
Down-Regulation
Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)
Graft vs Host Disease
Injections, Intravenous
Malaria, Cerebral*
Membrane Proteins
Mice
Models, Animal
Pathology
Plasmodium berghei*
Plasmodium*
Staphylococcal Protein A*
T-Lymphocytes*
Cytokines
Estrogens, Conjugated (USP)
Membrane Proteins
Staphylococcal Protein A