Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently stumbled upon a protein that allows Plasmodium falciparum malaria cells to exit infected red blood cells and further spread throughout the body. They originally thought that the protein functioned in allowing malaria to enter the cell, but they were surprised when eliminating the protein seemed to prevent malaria from exiting red blood cells.
During a typical infection, mosquitoes inject malaria parasites into a victim. The parasites migrate to the liver, where they slowly grow until they begin to spread to red blood cells weeks later. At this point, symptoms should begin to surface. Staying outside of the cell too long will result in the death of the malaria cell by the natural human immune system, so right after the cell ruptures, mature cells tends to enter another RBC as quickly as possible. Without the necessary protein kinase, malarial cells still develop as normal, but they just don't have a way to exit the cell and further infect the body. The protein doesn't seem to exist naturally in humans, suggesting that it's removal shouldn't have any toxic effects.
Researchers hope that this line of research can lead to antimalarial treatments that can contain an existing infection. Also, because the method allows for mature malaria to survive within the cell, it provides mature invasive parasites for study in vaccines, a rarity in immunology.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100514171912.htm
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