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Plasmodium vivax, the most common form of malaria. Image Credit: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Scientists at the Institute of Genomic Sciences (IGS) of the UMSOM have come up with a new way to use genomic sequences to study and better understand the transmission, treat and ultimately eradicate Plasmodium vivax, the form the most widespread malaria.
P. vivax is unicellular transmitted by mosquitoes. It is the most widespread human parasite of malaria, responsible for more than 8.5 million cases of clinical malaria worldwide and threatening more than two billion people in 90 countries. Unlike Plasmodium falciparum, another malaria species, P. vivax can not be cultured in vitro and remains poorly understood and resilient to elimination efforts.
IGS researchers collaborated with researchers at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia to badyze patterns of parasite gene expression in patients with P. vivax malaria enrolled in a study to determine the effectiveness of chloroquine as a treatment for malaria. Using a combination of genomic and bioinformatic approaches, they compared parasite transcriptomes, or a set of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, from different patient infections. , and badyzed the response of parasites to chloroquine, a common antimalarial, according to the researcher. published in Nature Communications.
"By badyzing parasite mRNAs directly from blood samples from infected patients, we found that not all infections contained the same proportion of male and female parasites needed to infect mosquitoes and spread the disease. This observation suggests that parasite transmission is more complex than we previously thought and that, perhaps, the parasite is able to alter its development to ensure optimal survival, "said David Serre, PhD, badociate professor of microbiology and immunology and member of IGS.
Dr. Serre, principal investigator, explained that the researchers had badyzed the modifications of gene expression induced by chloroquine treatment and demonstrated that this antimalarial drug, while effectively eliminating parasites P. vivax, acts differently from P. falciparum parasites. "This highlights the biological differences between these two human malaria parasites and the importance of specifically studying this important pathogen if we hope to ultimately eliminate malaria worldwide," he said. he declares.
Genome sequencing studies have provided unique insights into this neglected human parasite, but are limited to identifying biological differences encoded in the DNA sequence. However, gene expression studies, which could provide information on parasite life cycle regulation and its response to drugs, have been difficult to implement for this pathogen because of the heterogeneous mixture of parasite stages present in the parasite. infection of each patient.
"This important research will help us better understand how to treat, prevent and ultimately eliminate this species of malaria. This is particularly critical in the face of growing concern for antimalarial drug resistance, "said E. Albert Reece, Dean of UMSOM, MD, Ph.D., MBA, Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs at the University, and distinguished professor John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers.
This article has been republished from documents provided by the University of Maryland. Note: Content may have changed for length and content. For more information, please contact the cited source.
Reference:
Kim, A., Popovici, J., Menard, D. and Serre, D. (2019). Plasmodium vivax transcriptomes reveal a stage-specific response to chloroquine and differential regulation of male and female gametocytes. Nature Communications, 10(1). doi: 10.1038 / s41467-019-08312-z
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