title: Plasmodium knowlesi: from severe zoonosis to animal model.
abstract: Plasmodium knowlesi malaria is a newly described zoonosis in Southeast Asia. Similarly to Plasmodium falciparum, P. knowlesi can reach high parasitaemia in the human host and both species cause severe and fatal illness. Interpretation of host-parasite interactions in studies of P. knowlesi malaria adds a counterpoint to studies on P. falciparum. However, there is no model system for testing the resulting hypotheses on malaria pathophysiology or for developing new interventions. Plasmodium knowlesi is amenable to genetic manipulation in vitro and several nonhuman primate species are susceptible to experimental infection. Here, we make a case for drawing on P. knowlesi as both a human pathogen and an experimental model to lift the roadblock between malaria research and its translation into human health benefits.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9TF, UK. Electronic address: jcs26@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cox-Singh
authors.affiliation: Malaria Unit, Department of Pathology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Culleton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002144:Callithrix / Q000469:parasitology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D016790:Plasmodium knowlesi / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000639:trends*; D015047:Zoonoses
keywords: Plasmodium knowlesi; in vivo; non-human primate; pathophysiology; severe malaria