The human malaria parasite has evolved Background: Plasmodium falciparum complex drug evasion mechanisms to all available antimalarials. To date, the combination of amodiaquine-artesunate is among the drug of choice for treatment of uncomplicated malaria. In this combination, a short acting, artesunate is partnered with long acting, amodiaquine for which resistance may emerge rapidly especially...

Plasmodium infections are responsible for millions of cases of malaria and ∼1 million deaths annually. Recently, we showed that sterile protection (95%) in BALB/c mice required Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite protein (CS(252-260))-specific memory CD8 T cells exceeding a threshold of 1% of all PBLs. Importantly, it is not known if Plasmodium species affect the threshold of CS-specific memory...

Sequestration of red blood cells infected with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in organs such as the brain is considered important for pathogenicity. A similar phenomenon has been observed in mouse models of malaria, using the rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei, but it is unclear whether the P. falciparum proteins known to be involved in this process are conserved in the rodent...

Intracellular parasites manipulate host cell apoptosis in different ways either to increase their life span within infected cells or to spread infection. The present data provided information on the cellular changes taking place in spleen and peripheral blood during Plasmodium berghei-infection and indicated apoptosis mediated host immune response during infection. Our results suggested a signi...

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) has been shown to induce protection in mice against Plasmodium cyanomolgi and in rhesus monkey against Plasmodium yeolii. This study is to investigate whether recombinant IL-12 can induce protection in BALB/c mice against Plasmodium berghei. Five mice were given intraperitoneal injection of 7.5 micrograms/kg body weight recombinant mouse IL-12 two days prior to challenge ...

Upon infection of a mammalian host, Plasmodium parasites first replicate inside hepatocytes, generating thousands of new parasites. Although Plasmodium intra-hepatic development represents a substantial metabolic challenge to the host hepatocyte, how infected cells respond to and integrate this stress remains poorly understood. Here, we present proteomic and transcriptomic analyses, revealing t...

Transmission of malaria is dependent on the successful completion of the Plasmodium lifecycle in the Anopheles vector. Major obstacles are encountered in the midgut tissue, where most parasites are killed by the mosquito's immune system. In the present study, DNA microarray analyses have been used to compare Anopheles gambiae responses to invasion of the midgut epithelium by the ookinete stage ...

Phagocyte-derived reactive oxygen species have been implicated in the clearance of malaria infections. We investigated the progression of five different strains of murine malaria in gp91(phox-/-) mice, which lack a functional NADPH oxidase and thus the ability to produce phagocyte-derived reactive oxygen species. We found that the absence of functional NADPH oxidase in the gene knockout mice ha...

GF animals, v/hen infected with pathogens may exhibit higher or loq¡er resistance to the infecting organism (GORDON & PESTI, 19?1; PLEASANTS, 1974). cF mice are five tÍmes mo_ re resistant and show more intense mitogenie ând immunogenlc rqsponses to bâcterial endotoxins than their CV counterpa¡ts (KlyONO et al., 1980). FINERTY et al. (19?2)infected cF and CV mice with Plasmodium berghei; the ri...