Inherently Reduced Expression of ASC Restricts Caspase-1 Processing in Hepatocytes and Promotes Plasmodium Infection
J Immunol. 2023 Dec 27:ji2300440. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2300440. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTInflammasome-mediated caspase-1 activation facilitates innate immune control of Plasmodium in the liver, thereby limiting the incidence and severity of clinical malaria. However, caspase-1 processing occurs incompletely in both mouse and human hepatocytes and precludes the generation of mature IL-1β or IL-18, unlike in other cells. Why this is so or how it impacts Plasmodium control in the liver has remained unknown. We show that an inherently reduced expression of the inflammasome adaptor molecule apoptosis-associated specklike...
Source: Journal of Immunology - December 27, 2023 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Camila Marques-da-Silva Clyde Schmidt-Silva Rodrigo P Baptista Samarchith P Kurup Source Type: research
Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of the Plasmodium vivax siap2 Locus: A Promising Candidate for an Effective Malaria Vaccine?
Acta Trop. 2023 Dec 25:107111. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.107111. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMalaria is the deadliest parasitic disease in the world. Traditional control measures have become less effective; hence, there is a need to explore alternative strategies, such as antimalarial vaccines. However, designing an anti-Plasmodium vivax vaccine is considered a challenge due to the complex parasite biology and the antigens´ high genetic diversity. Recently, the sporozoite invasion-associated protein 2 (SIAP2) has been suggested as a potential antigen to be considered in vaccine design due to its significance durin...
Source: Acta Tropica - December 27, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Sergio E Plata-Pineda Laura X C árdenas-Munévar Carlos J Castro-Cavad ía Sindy P Buitrago Diego Garz ón-Ospina Source Type: research
Inherently Reduced Expression of ASC Restricts Caspase-1 Processing in Hepatocytes and Promotes Plasmodium Infection
J Immunol. 2023 Dec 27:ji2300440. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2300440. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTInflammasome-mediated caspase-1 activation facilitates innate immune control of Plasmodium in the liver, thereby limiting the incidence and severity of clinical malaria. However, caspase-1 processing occurs incompletely in both mouse and human hepatocytes and precludes the generation of mature IL-1β or IL-18, unlike in other cells. Why this is so or how it impacts Plasmodium control in the liver has remained unknown. We show that an inherently reduced expression of the inflammasome adaptor molecule apoptosis-associated specklike...
Source: Journal of Immunology - December 27, 2023 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Camila Marques-da-Silva Clyde Schmidt-Silva Rodrigo P Baptista Samarchith P Kurup Source Type: research
Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of the Plasmodium vivax siap2 Locus: A Promising Candidate for an Effective Malaria Vaccine?
Acta Trop. 2023 Dec 25:107111. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.107111. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMalaria is the deadliest parasitic disease in the world. Traditional control measures have become less effective; hence, there is a need to explore alternative strategies, such as antimalarial vaccines. However, designing an anti-Plasmodium vivax vaccine is considered a challenge due to the complex parasite biology and the antigens´ high genetic diversity. Recently, the sporozoite invasion-associated protein 2 (SIAP2) has been suggested as a potential antigen to be considered in vaccine design due to its significance durin...
Source: Acta Tropica - December 27, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Sergio E Plata-Pineda Laura X C árdenas-Munévar Carlos J Castro-Cavad ía Sindy P Buitrago Diego Garz ón-Ospina Source Type: research
Inherently Reduced Expression of ASC Restricts Caspase-1 Processing in Hepatocytes and Promotes Plasmodium Infection
J Immunol. 2023 Dec 27:ji2300440. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2300440. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTInflammasome-mediated caspase-1 activation facilitates innate immune control of Plasmodium in the liver, thereby limiting the incidence and severity of clinical malaria. However, caspase-1 processing occurs incompletely in both mouse and human hepatocytes and precludes the generation of mature IL-1β or IL-18, unlike in other cells. Why this is so or how it impacts Plasmodium control in the liver has remained unknown. We show that an inherently reduced expression of the inflammasome adaptor molecule apoptosis-associated specklike...
Source: Journal of Immunology - December 27, 2023 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Camila Marques-da-Silva Clyde Schmidt-Silva Rodrigo P Baptista Samarchith P Kurup Source Type: research
Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of the Plasmodium vivax siap2 Locus: A Promising Candidate for an Effective Malaria Vaccine?
Acta Trop. 2023 Dec 25:107111. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.107111. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMalaria is the deadliest parasitic disease in the world. Traditional control measures have become less effective; hence, there is a need to explore alternative strategies, such as antimalarial vaccines. However, designing an anti-Plasmodium vivax vaccine is considered a challenge due to the complex parasite biology and the antigens´ high genetic diversity. Recently, the sporozoite invasion-associated protein 2 (SIAP2) has been suggested as a potential antigen to be considered in vaccine design due to its significance durin...
Source: Acta Tropica - December 27, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Sergio E Plata-Pineda Laura X C árdenas-Munévar Carlos J Castro-Cavad ía Sindy P Buitrago Diego Garz ón-Ospina Source Type: research
GSE235824 Atypical B cells consist of subsets with distinct effector functions
Contributors : Raphael A Reyes ; Gayani Batugedara ; Paramitta Dutta ; Ashley B Reers ; Rolando Garza ; Isaac Ssewanyana ; Prasanna Jagannathan ; Margeret E Feeney ; Bryan Greenhouse ; Sebastiaan Bol ; Ferhat AySeries Type : Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing ; OtherOrganism : Homo sapiensAtypical B cells are a population of activated B cells that are commonly enriched in individuals with chronic immune activation, but are also part of a normal immune response to infection or vaccination. Prior studies to determine the function of these cells have yielded conflicting results, possibly due to functio...
Source: GEO: Gene Expression Omnibus - December 22, 2023 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing Other Homo sapiens Source Type: research
2024 looms | Science
Last week, Science reflected on major achievements in science in 2023, from weight loss drugs and a malaria vaccine to exascale computing and advances in artificial intelligence. These are all impressive developments and provide yet more testimony to the ... (Source: Science: Current Issue)
Source: Science: Current Issue - December 21, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Can incorporating genotyping data into efficacy estimators improve efficiency of early phase malaria vaccine trials?
CONCLUSIONS: The power gain from the genotyping methods depends on the context. Because input parameters for early phase power calculations are often uncertain, these estimators are not recommended as primary endpoints for small trials unless supported by targeted data analysis.TRIAL REGISTRATIONS: NCT00866619, NCT02663700, NCT02143934.PMID:38115002 | DOI:10.1186/s12936-023-04802-0 (Source: Cancer Control)
Source: Cancer Control - December 20, 2023 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Gail E Potter Viviane Callier Biraj Shrestha Sudhaunshu Joshi Ankit Dwivedi Joana C Silva Matthew B Laurens Dean A Follmann Gregory A Deye Source Type: research
Mechanical forces control the valency of the malaria adhesin VAR2CSA by exposing cryptic glycan binding sites
by Rita Roessner, Nicholas Michelarakis, Frauke Gr äter, Camilo Aponte-Santamaría
Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is responsible for the most lethal form of malaria. VAR2CSA is an adhesin protein expressed by this parasite at the membrane of infected erythrocytes for attachment to the placenta, leading to pregnancy-associated malaria. VAR2CSA is a large 355 kDa multidomain protein composed of nine extracellular domains, a transmembrane helix, and an intracellular domain. VAR2CSA binds to Chondroitin Sulphate A (CSA) of the proteoglycan matrix of the placenta. Shear flow, as the one occurring in blood, has been shown to enhan...
Source: PLoS Computational Biology - December 20, 2023 Category: Biology Authors: Rita Roessner Source Type: research
The PfRCR complex bridges malaria parasite and erythrocyte during invasion
Nature, Published online: 20 December 2023; doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06856-1Structural studies show how the PfRCR complex of Plasmodium falciparum forms a bridge between erythrocyte and parasite membranes, and how PfCyRPA-binding antibodies neutralize invasion through a steric mechanism, opening the way to new approaches in rational vaccine design. (Source: Nature AOP)
Source: Nature AOP - December 20, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Brendan Farrell Nawsad Alam Melissa N. Hart Abhishek Jamwal Robert J. Ragotte Hannah Walters-Morgan Simon J. Draper Ellen Knuepfer Matthew K. Higgins Source Type: research
Can incorporating genotyping data into efficacy estimators improve efficiency of early phase malaria vaccine trials?
Early phase malaria vaccine field trials typically measure malaria infection by PCR or thick blood smear microscopy performed on serially sampled blood. Vaccine efficacy (VE) is the proportion reduction in an ... (Source: Malaria Journal)
Source: Malaria Journal - December 19, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Gail E. Potter, Viviane Callier, Biraj Shrestha, Sudhaunshu Joshi, Ankit Dwivedi, Joana C. Silva, Matthew B. Laurens, Dean A. Follmann and Gregory A. Deye Tags: Research Source Type: research
Implementation and impact of the global access principles at the University of British Columbia: current successes and future challenges
In 2007, the University of British Columbia (UBC) was the first university in Canada to establish and adopt global access (GA) principles. Toward implementing these principles, UBC then identified a set of strategies for providing affordable access to new UBC-developed technologies throughout low- and middle-income countries and among vulnerable populations. In this perspective, we provide an update of UBC’s progress over the past 15 years made on several technologies that fall under the GA principles. The technologies reported on are wide-ranging, including an oral medication for the treatment of leishmaniasis; peptide...
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology - December 15, 2023 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research
Comparative analysis of codon usage patterns of Plasmodium helical interspersed subtelomeric (PHIST) proteins
ConclusionIn conclusion, this study has enhanced our understanding of the characteristics of codon usage and genetic evolution in PHIST proteins, thereby providing data foundation for further research on antimalarial drugs or vaccines. (Source: Frontiers in Microbiology)
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - December 14, 2023 Category: Microbiology Source Type: research
A dual-antigen malaria vaccine targeting Pb22 and Pbg37 was able to induce robust transmission-blocking activity
Despite years of effort to develop an effective vaccine against malaria infection, a vaccine that provides individuals with sufficient protection against malaria illness and death in endemic areas is not yet a... (Source: Parasites and Vectors)
Source: Parasites and Vectors - December 14, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Wenyan Gao, Yue Qiu, Liying Zhu, Xinxin Yu, Fan Yang, Muyan Chen, Gang He, Yinjie Liu, Liwang Cui, Fei Liu, Xiaotong Zhu and Yaming Cao Tags: Research Source Type: research
