Flashcards in Lecture 16 + 17 - Malaria Deck (70):
1
Age group most represented in malaria deaths
Children under 5
2
Phylum of malaria
Apicomplexia
3
Genus of malaria
Plasmodium
4
Plasmodium species that infect humans
1)
2)
3)
4)
1) Falciparum
2) Vivax
3) Ovalae
4) Malariae
5
Primate - human plasmodium pathogen
Plasmodium knowlesi
6
How does plasmodium gain access to hepatocytes?
Kupfer cell
7
3 places where plasmodium live
Mosquito, human hepatocytes, human erythrocytes
8
Example of the strength of anti-malarial selective pressure
Sickle-cell anaemia alleles are maintained in sub-Saharan Africa, as being heterozygous for this reduces susceptibility to malaria
9
Difference in P. vivax and P. falciparum infection
Vivax causes more severe morbidity, but is less likely to kill
10
Number of malaria deaths per year
~650,000
11
What are the gold crystals observed in malaria-infected erythrocytes?
Haemozin
Parasite eats haemoglobin, but haem is toxic.
Crystallises haem to haemozoin
12
Malaria definitive host
Mosquito (where sexual reproduction of gametocytes occurs)
13
Why are malarial infections comparable between Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, but sub-Saharan Africa has much higher mortality rates?
P. vivax more common in Latin America.
P. falciparum more common in sub-Saharan Africa
14
Estimated number of malaria cases per year
300 - 500 million
15
Amount of household spending on malaria in Africa
Estimated 10% of household spending (mosquito nets, medication ,etc)
16
P. falciparum life cycle
1) a, b, c
2) a, b
3) a, b
4)
1) Mosquito stage (in mosquito gut)
a) Gamete
b) Zygote
c) Ookinete
MOSQUITO BITES HUMAN
2) Hepatocyte stage
a) Sporozoites infect hepatocytes
b) Merozoites form, exit hepatocytes
3) Blood stage
a) Merozoites infect erythrocytes, divide rapidly
b) Gametocytes form
4) Mosquito ingests gametocytes from human host, sexual reproduction in mosquito
17
When does malaria cause illness?
During merozoite stage
Hepatocyte stage is asymptomatic
18
Number of infected erythrocytes directly after hepatocyte stage Vs number of infected erythrocytes after merozoite expansion
10^3 infected erythrocytes Vs 10^11 infected erythrocytes
19
What does merozoite release coincide with?
Periodic fever, cytokine storm
20
Basic overview of three stages of malarial infection
Mosquito stage - Sexual reproduction
Hepatocyte stage - Asexual reproduction
Erythrocyte stage - Asexual reproduction, major amplification stage
21
Where does the sexual stage occur, and for how long?
1 - 2 weeks in female Anopheles mosquito
22
How long does it take for injected sporozoites to enter hepatocytes from skin?
~30 minutes
23
How long does the asexual liver stage last for?
~1-2 weeks
24
How long after infection does disease occur?
~1 month
25
How long does the asexual erythrocyte stage last for?
~2-3 days, is quite synchronous
26
Symptoms of malaria
Fever, chills, anaemia, coma
27
Proportion of malaria deaths caused by P. falciparum
95%
28
How does P. vivax cause relapsing malaria?
Hypnozoites in the liver
29
What role does cytoadherence play?
Malaria doesn't want infected blood cells to enter the spleen, as they would be destroyed there.
Instead, cause infected erythrocytes to adhere to vascular wall.
30
What coincides most with malarial death?
Infected erythrocytes adhering to walls of blood vessels in brain.
Exact mechanism of death not known. Not straight ischaemia
31
What adheres infected erythrocytes to the vascular wall?
PfEMP1
32
PfEMP1 role
Binds to molecules on microvascular endothelium
33
Surface protein in the brain microvasculature that PfEMP1 binds to
ICAM1
34
Number of different genomic copies of PfEMP1 in a malarial genome
Over 60
35
Name of genes encoding PfEMP1
var genes
36
How are different var genes expressed?
Epigenetic silencing of all var genes except for 1.
A parasite can change var gene expression
37
What correlates with different waves of parasitaemia?
Expression of different PfEMP1 genes
Express different ones when an effective antibody response is launched against one
38
Where are most var genes located?
Sub-telomeric regions of chromosomes
39
Why do different P. falciparum parasites have a greater variety of var genes than expected?
1)
2)
3)
1) Chromosomes cluster at at nuclear periphery of parasite
2) Recombination between heterologous chromosomes that are clumped together, aligned
3) Results in great variation of var genes and expressed PfEMP1s
40
Number of proteins that P. falciparum exports into erythrocyte cytoplasm
Hundreds
41
KAHRP function
Knob formation.
Knob allows parasite to hang onto microvascular endothelium under flow pressure
42
Evidence for KAHRP function
With KAHRP, infected RBC surface is rough, cell sticks to microvascular endothelium
Without KAHRP, infected RBC surface is smooth, doesn't stay attached to vascular wall
43
Motif allowing P. falciparum to export proteins into RBC cytoplasm
PEXEL motif
44
Amount of P. falciparum proteome estimated to be exported out of parasite
~5%
45
PEXEL motif role
Allow proteins to cross parasitophorous vacuole membrane
46
Two important sites in P. falciparum protein export
1) Endoplasmic reticulum
2) Parasitophorous vacuole membrane
47
What is PEXEL?
A protease cleavage site
Cleaved by Plasmepsin IV
48
What does plasmepsin IV cleave?
PEXEL motif, in the endoplasmic reticulum
49
Where is PEXEL cleaved by plasmepsin IV?
RxLxE/Q/D --> RxL | xE/Q/D
In the ER
50
Where is plasmepsin IV present?
In the ER of P. falciparum
51
PTEX
A putative translocon of PEXEL proteins
52
Criteria for PTEX
1)
2)
3)
4)
1) Plasmodium-specific, in the correct location
2) Essential to blood-stages
3) Energy source, a protein-unfolding mechanism
4) Binds transiting cargo PEXEL proteins
53
PTEX structure
1)
2)
3)
1) 5 proteins
2) HSP101 is an energy source, unfolds proteins so that they can fit through pore
3) EXP2 is a pore protein
54
PTEX location
Parasitiphorous vacuole membrane in RBC
55
How long does it take for a merozoite to enter an erythrocyte?
~30 seconds
56
Possible anti-malarial drug targets
1)
2)
1) Plasmepsin IV
2) PTEX
57
Types of anti-malarial vaccine
1)
2)
3)
1) Pre-erythrocytic
2) Transmission-blocking
3) Blood-stage (anti-merozoite)
58
Example of possible pre-erythrocytic vaccine
RTS, S
In stage III clinical trials
59
Difficulty for anti-merozoite antibodies
Only have about 1.5 minutes when merozoites are susceptible to action.
~1.5 minutes between when merozoites exit former host cell, enter erythrocyte
60
Primary interaction target of possible vaccine
Binding to cell
61
Secondary interaction target of possible vaccines
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
1) Actin/myosin motor
2) Surface protein shedding
3) Secondary ligand shedding
4) Resealing
5) Recovery from echinocytosis
62
Problems with making an anti-malaria vaccine
1)
2)
3)
4)
1) Empirical vaccine techniques aren't working
2) Very little functional knowledge of individual antigens
3) Many antigens are identified, but which to target?
4) Vaccine must cover three major invasion pathways
63
Target of P. vivax on erythrocytes
Duffy protein
64
Adaptation of West Africans against P. vivax
Don't express Duffy protein on erythrocyte membrane
As a result, no P. vivax in West Africa
65
Families of surface proteins that bind erythrocytes in P. falciparum
1) EBA (erythrocyte-binding antigen) (5 members)
2) PfRh (5 members)
66
What does the W2mef strain of P. falciparum use to bind erythrocytes?
Can use EBA175 to bind sialic acid on GlyA
67
What does W2mef strain do when RBCs have been depleted of sialic acid by neuraminidase?
Expresses a silaic acid-independent invasion phenotype using a different surface ligand (Rh4)
68
Important targets of inhibitory antibodies
EBA, Rh proteins
69
Why does P. falciparum use several invasion pathways?
1)
2)
1) Accommodate RBC polymorphism
2) Immune avoidance
70