First Author | Mathieu C | Year | 2015 |
Journal | Cell Microbiol | Volume | 17 |
Issue | 4 | Pages | 542-58 |
PubMed ID | 25329441 | Mgi Jnum | J:325867 |
Mgi Id | MGI:6875150 | Doi | 10.1111/cmi.12382 |
Citation | Mathieu C, et al. (2015) Plasmodium berghei histamine-releasing factor favours liver-stage development via inhibition of IL-6 production and associates with a severe outcome of disease. Cell Microbiol 17(4):542-58 |
abstractText | Plasmodium spp., which causes malaria, produces a histamine-releasing factor (HRF), an orthologue of mammalian HRF. Histamine-releasing factor produced by erythrocytic stages of the parasite is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of severe malaria. Here, we show in a rodent model that HRF is not important during the erythrocytic but pre-erythrocytic phase of infection, which mainly consists in the transformation in the liver of the mosquito-injected parasite form into the erythrocyte-infecting form. Development of P. berghei ANKA cl15cy1 liver stages lacking HRF is impaired and associated with an early rise in systemic IL-6, a cytokine that strongly suppresses development of Plasmodium liver stages. The defect is rescued by injection of anti-IL-6 antibodies or infection in IL-6-deficient mice and parasite HRF is sufficient to decrease IL-6 synthesis, indicating a direct role of parasite HRF in reducing host IL-6. The target cells modulated by HRF for IL-6 production at early time points during liver infection are neutrophils. Parasite HRF is thus used to down-regulate a cytokine with anti-parasite activity. Our data also highlight the link between a prolonged transition from liver to blood-stage infection and reduced incidence of experimental cerebral malaria. |