How Cerebral Malaria Is Caused?

Cerebral malaria is one of the most severe disease caused by the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The pathogenic mechanisms causing cerebral malaria are still poorly defined because the studies have been hampered by limited accessibility to human tissues.

It is a life threating chronic disease. During this condition, the red blood cells that are infected by the parasite accumulate in the brain. This happens in 1-2 % of about 200 million cases that get reported. Dr. Janet Storm explained that presently there is very little information about the reason of occurrence of this complication in some children only. It is understood that the red blood cells that are infected contain a protein called P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) on its surface which binds itself with the lining of the blood vessels in various organs including the brain. One of the peculiar property of this protein is its variability, meaning the changes in the binding ability of the infected red blood cells in the brain. That is exactly the reason behind the cause of cerebral malaria in some infected individuals and not all. A condition wherein the infected red blood cells do not bind themselves in the brain, the infected individual doesn’t suffer from cerebral malaria. During the research, the team of researchers, used a flow based adhesion assays in order to analyse the binding process of the infected cells from children suffering with cerebral uncomplicated malaria to cells derived from human brain blood vessels. The team also indulged in studying the molecular technique behind the protein - PfEMP1, expressed by the infected red blood cells. The results of the research depicted that the binding of infected red blood cells in patients suffering from cerebral malaria to the brain-derived cells was much higher in comparison to that seen in patients suffering from uncomplicated malaria. This infers that in majority of the cases, P. falciparum doesn’t target the brain and that cerebral malaria occurs only when the red blood cells express a subset of PfEMP1 proteins with particular adhesion phenotypes that allows the efficient binding to the cerebral blood vessels. It has therefore become evident that binding in the brain is an essential factor behind the cause of cerebral malaria. The researchers have been working in order to bring out new developments regarding such binding that may become the root cause of many other diseases.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190111095112.htm