Adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to hyaluronic acid in placental malaria
- 1 January 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Medicine
- Vol. 6 (1), 86-90
- https://doi.org/10.1038/71582
Abstract
Infection with Plasmodium falciparum during pregnancy leads to the accumulation of parasite-infected erythrocytes in the placenta1, and is associated with excess perinatal mortality, premature delivery and intrauterine growth retardation in the infant, as well as increased maternal mortality and morbidity2,3. P. falciparum can adhere to specific receptors on host cells, an important virulence factor enabling parasites to accumulate in various organs4. We report here that most P. falciparum isolates from infected placentae can bind to hyaluronic acid, a newly discovered receptor for parasite adhesion that is present on the placental lining. In laboratory isolates selected for specific high-level adhesion, binding to hyaluronic acid could be inhibited by dodecamer or larger oligosaccharide fragments or polysaccharides, treatment of immobilized receptor with hyaluronidase, or treatment of infected erythrocytes with trypsin. In vitro flow-based assays demonstrated that high levels of adhesion occurred at low wall shear stress, conditions thought to prevail in the placenta. Our findings indicate that adhesion to hyaluronic acid is involved in mediating placental parasite accumulation, thus changing the present understanding of the mechanisms of placental infection, with implications for the development of therapeutic and preventative interventions.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Structural characterisation of two hexasaccharides and an octasaccharide from chondroitin sulphate C containing the unusual sequence (4‐sulpho)‐N‐acetylgalactosamine−β1−4‐(2‐sulpho)‐glucuronic acid−β1−3‐(6‐sulpho)‐N‐acetylgalactosamineEuropean Journal of Biochemistry, 1998
- PfEMP1, polymorphism and pathogenesisPathogens and Global Health, 1997
- The immunology of pregnancyCurrent Opinion in Infectious Diseases, 1997
- Adherence of Plasmodium falciparum to Chondroitin Sulfate A in the Human PlacentaScience, 1996
- Cytoadhesion and Falciparum Malaria: Going with the flowParasitology Today, 1995
- Chondroitin sulfate A is a cell surface receptor for Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1995
- Characterization of permeation pathways in the plasma membrane of human erythrocytes infected with early stages of Plasmodium falciparum: Association with parasite developmentJournal of Cellular Physiology, 1985
- Preparation and circular dichroism analysis of sodium hyaluronate oligosaccharides and chondroitinBiochemistry, 1981
- Cytochemical studies of the maternal surface of the syncytiotrophoblast of human early and term placentaThe Anatomical Record, 1974
- Antigen Barrier of the Mouse PlacentaNature, 1964