title: Deletion of a malaria invasion gene reduces death and anemia, in model hosts.
abstract: Malaria parasites induce complex cellular and clinical phenotypes, including anemia, cerebral malaria and death in a wide range of mammalian hosts. Host genes and parasite 'toxins' have been implicated in malarial disease, but the contribution of parasite genes remains to be fully defined. Here we assess disease in BALB/c mice and Wistar rats infected by the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei with a gene knock out for merozoite surface protein (MSP) 7. MSP7 is not essential for infection but in P. falciparum, it enhances erythrocyte invasion by 20%. In vivo, as compared to wild type, the P. berghei Δmsp7 mutant is associated with an abrogation of death and a decrease from 3% to 2% in peak, circulating parasitemia. The Δmsp7 mutant is also associated with less anemia and modest increase in the size of follicles in the spleen. Together these data show that deletion of a single parasite invasion ligand modulates blood stage disease, as measured by death and anemia. This work is the first to assess the contribution of a gene present in all plasmodial species in severe disease.
authors: Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America.
authors: Noé D
authors: ND
authors: Gómez
authors: Innocent
authors: I
authors: Safeukui
authors: Aanuoluwa A
authors: AA
authors: Adelani
authors: Rita
authors: R
authors: Tewari
authors: Janardan K
authors: JK
authors: Reddy
authors: Sam
authors: S
authors: Rao
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Holder
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Buffet
authors: Narla
authors: N
authors: Mohandas
authors: Kasturi
authors: K
authors: Haldar
mesh_terms: D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D017353:Gene Deletion; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D008288:Malaria / Q000469:parasitology*; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C439571:merozoite surface protein 7, Plasmodium