[A new view of malaria provided by parasite imaging].
Infection by Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, starts when the parasite, injected by a mosquito vector, reaches and invades the liver, where it transforms into a stage that is capable of infecting erythrocytes and that causes the symptoms and complications of the disease. This phase of the infection, called pre-erythrocytic stage, is the most elusive of the parasite's life cycle, yet it was identified more than fifty years ago as a primary target of vaccine strategies aimed at avoiding erythrocyte infection. Recently in vivo imaging in a rodent model revealed that the pre-erythrocytic phase is unexpectedly complex. In particular, it includes a component of lymphatic infection, thus altering our representation of how an immune response can be mounted against these parasite stages.
Ménard
Robert
R
Unité de Biologie et Génétique du Paludisme, Institut Pasteur, 28 Rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris, cedex 15, France. rmenard@pasteur.fr
Amino
Rogerio
R
Thiberge
Sabine
S
Gueirard
Pascale
P
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000469:parasitology; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D051379:Mice; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods