Expression of heat shock protein 90 , 70 , 60 and 25 in the placenta of Plasmodium berghei infected BALB / c mice

Malaria with over 3 million deaths per year remains the foremost killer among all diseases and causes 400 000 cases of severe maternal anaemia and from 75 000-200 000 infant deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa[1]. Malaria is more severe in pregnant women than nonpregnant women leading to altered placental pathology and fetal abnormalities[2]. The role of heat shock proteins (hsps) in infection and immunity is receiving much attention. Increased expression and accumulation of the hsps during infections facilitate the ability of cells to both repair and synthesize new proteins[3,4]. In our earlier studies, we have reported that Plasmodium berghei (P. berghei) infection in pregnant mice leads to enhancing oxidative stress that induces mitochondrial mediated pathway of apoptosis in the placenta[5,6]. Thus, in the present study an attempt was made to correlate the expression of hsps with placental pathology in P. berghei infected pregnant BALB/c mice. PEER REVIEW ABSTRACT