title: Identifying and characterising the Plasmodium falciparum RhopH3 Plasmodium vivax homologue.
abstract: Four Plasmodium species cause malaria in humans, Plasmodium falciparum being the most widely studied to date. All Plasmodium species have paired club-shaped organelles towards their apical extreme named rhoptries that contain many lipids and proteins which are released during target cell invasion. P. falciparum RhopH3 is a rhoptry protein triggering important immune responses in patients from endemic regions. It has also been shown that anti-RhopH3 antibodies inhibit in vitro invasion of erythrocytes. Recent immunisation studies in mice with the Plasmodium yoelii and Plasmodium berghei RhopH3 P. falciparum homologue proteins found that they are able to induce protection in murine models. This study described identifying and characterising RhopH3 protein in Plasmodium vivax; it is encoded by a seven exon gene and expressed during the parasite's asexual stage. PvRhopH3 has similar processing to its homologue in P. falciparum and presents a cellular immunolocalisation pattern characteristic of rhoptry proteins.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Department, Fundacion Instituto de Inmunologia de Colombia, Carrera 50#26-00, Bogota, Colombia.
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mongui
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Perez-Leal
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rojas-Caraballo
authors.forename: Diana I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Angel
authors.forename: Jimena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.forename: Manuel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Patarroyo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005091:Exons; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism*; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000378:metabolism*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins