Mosquito immune system can fight malaria
Hopkins researchers have discovered a possible new means to control malaria even before it infects a person. The malaria parasite is transmitted to humans by a mosquito. This discovery would allow the mosquito's own immune system to attack the parasite.
Normally, Anopheles mosquitoes carry malarial organisms without their immune systems challenging the parasite. A team of researchers led by George Dimopoulos has discovered the pathway involved in silencing the mosquito immune system's reaction. Turning this pathway off would block malaria at the host stage, before it even enters the human body.
Malaria is a highly infectious, widespread disease. According to Yuemei Dong, a coworker of Dimopoulos, "Malaria is still one of today's most devastating infectious disease with a worldwide prevalence of over 400 million cases and two million deaths per year."
Even though anti-malarial drugs exist, a strategy of controlling the spread of malaria, instead of just mitigating its effects, would target the disease at its source, rather than when it gets into the body.
"Our goal is to identify the key components of mosquito immune system in killing malaria parasites," Dong said. Normally, in mosquitoes that carry malarial parasites, genes code the production of certain proteins called negative regulators, which block the normal response of the immune system to the parasites.
Dimopoulos's team silenced those genes, and discovered the pathway mosquitoes normally would take to block malarial parasites.
According to Dong, "Silencing of this Imd pathway regulator results in complete resistance to human Plasmodium in three divergent Anopheline malaria vector species." Plasmodium is a malarial parasite that infects humans, and is typically carried by the Anopheles mosquito; the mosquito is thus a "vector" for malaria, as it carries the parasite that causes the disease.
Dong's finding means that Plasmodium would not infect the mosquito and thus would not be passed on to humans.
Normally, Anopheles mosquitoes carry malarial organisms without their immune systems challenging the parasite. A team of researchers led by George Dimopoulos has discovered the pathway involved in silencing the mosquito immune system's reaction. Turning this pathway off would block malaria at the host stage, before it even enters the human body.
Malaria is a highly infectious, widespread disease. According to Yuemei Dong, a coworker of Dimopoulos, "Malaria is still one of today's most devastating infectious disease with a worldwide prevalence of over 400 million cases and two million deaths per year."
Even though anti-malarial drugs exist, a strategy of controlling the spread of malaria, instead of just mitigating its effects, would target the disease at its source, rather than when it gets into the body.
"Our goal is to identify the key components of mosquito immune system in killing malaria parasites," Dong said. Normally, in mosquitoes that carry malarial parasites, genes code the production of certain proteins called negative regulators, which block the normal response of the immune system to the parasites.
Dimopoulos's team silenced those genes, and discovered the pathway mosquitoes normally would take to block malarial parasites.
According to Dong, "Silencing of this Imd pathway regulator results in complete resistance to human Plasmodium in three divergent Anopheline malaria vector species." Plasmodium is a malarial parasite that infects humans, and is typically carried by the Anopheles mosquito; the mosquito is thus a "vector" for malaria, as it carries the parasite that causes the disease.
Dong's finding means that Plasmodium would not infect the mosquito and thus would not be passed on to humans.
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