The Hepatocyte as a Household for<i>Plasmodium</i>Parasites

Zuzarte‐Luís, Vanessa; Mota, Maria M.

doi:10.1002/9781119436812.ch86

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When the parasite takes control of the infected cell, the levels of the CSP drop to undetectable levels (6). This occurs before the activation of T cells is complete (7). In the absence of CSP antigens on their membranes, infected host cells are effectively invisible to the CSP-specific effector T cells that reach the liver (8).…”

Section: Subversion Of the Host's Systemic Immunity By Plasmodium Spo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within 15 min, the first parasites leave the bite site and travel to the liver sinusoids [ 3 ]. After crossing the sinusoidal barrier, they infect hepatocytes [ 4 , 5 ] and differentiate into schizonts, syncytial cells that give rise to tens of thousands of haploid daughter cells known as merozoites [ 6 , 7 ]. Merozoites are eventually released into the blood [ 8 ], where they undergo several rounds of erythrocyte invasion and rupture until they mature into sexual gametocytes [ 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Killing the competition: a theoretical framework for liver-stage malaria

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The first stage of malaria infections takes place inside the host's hepatocytes. Remarkably, Plasmodium parasites do not infect hepatocytes immediately after reaching the liver. Instead, they migrate through several hepatocytes before infecting their definitive host cells, thus increasing their chances of immune destruction. Considering that malaria can proceed normally without cell traversal, this is indeed a puzzling behaviour. In fact, the role of hepatocyte traversal remains unknown to date, implying that the current understanding of malaria is incomplete. In this work, we hypothesize that the parasites traverse hepatocytes to actively trigger an immune response in the host. This behaviour would be part of a strategy of superinfection exclusion aimed to reduce intraspecific competition during the blood stage of the infection. Based on this hypothesis, we formulate a comprehensive theory of liver-stage malaria that integrates all the available knowledge about the infection. The interest of this new paradigm is not merely theoretical. It highlights major issues in the current empirical approach to the study of Plasmodium and suggests new strategies to fight malaria.

show abstract

Section: Subversion Of the Host's Systemic Immunity By Plasmodium Spo...mentioning

confidence: 99%