Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This review presents seven examples of effective drugs derived from the ancient Chinese therapeutics. They are artemisinin (qinghaosu) and its derivatives for malaria, henbane drugs for microcirculatory and other disturbances, tetrahydropalmatine as a dopamine receptor antagonist, yuanhuacine and yuanhuadine for abortion, trichosanthin for abortion, moles, and choriocarcinoma, indirubin for leukemia, and Tripterygium plants for autoimmune and various other diseases.
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PMID:Important Chinese herbal remedies. 360 15

An important pathogenic complication of malaria during human pregnancy is sequestration of Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (iRBCs) in the placental intervillous spaces. This sequestration is thought to be mediated in part by binding of the iRBCs to receptors expressed on the syncytiotrophoblast (ST) membrane. We report here the use of a dynamic system to study the consequences of this cytoadherence on ST function using human syncytiotrophoblast and the choriocarcinoma cell line, BeWo. Laboratory isolates of Plasmodium falciparum were selected for their ability to bind to ST and used to investigate binding-induced cellular changes in the ST. Treatment of the ST cells with chondroitinase ABC suggested that the selected parasites bind predominantly to chondroitin sulfate A, but other receptors for parasite binding may be involved. Intracellular signaling in the ST induced by iRBCs binding was investigated by assessing tyrosine phosphorylation of ST proteins following iRBC binding. We demonstrate for the first time that iRBC cytoadherence to syncytiotrophoblast enhances tyrosine phosphorylation of a series of proteins in these cells. This approach will be useful in further studies of ST function in the malaria-infected placenta, the dynamics of selection of syncytiotrophoblast-binding parasites, and the identification of new receptors for parasite cytoadherence in the placenta.
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PMID:Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells selected for binding to cultured syncytiotrophoblast bind to chondroitin sulfate A and induce tyrosine phosphorylation in the syncytiotrophoblast. 1600 22

Placenta-sequestering Plasmodium falciparum parasites causing pregnancy-associated malaria express pregnancy-specific variant surface antigens (VSA(PAM)). We report here that VSA(PAM)-expressing patient isolates adhere strongly to the choriocarcinoma cell line BeWo and that the BeWo line can be used to efficiently select for VSA(PAM) expression in vitro.
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PMID:Plasmodium falciparum parasites expressing pregnancy-specific variant surface antigens adhere strongly to the choriocarcinoma cell line BeWo. 1662 46

BeWo human choriocarcinoma cells have recently been identified as an in vitro model of adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to the major placental receptor chondroitn-4-sulphate (CSA). In this study, we show that treatment of BeWo cells with tumour necrosis factor-alpha and/or interferon-gamma, cytokines linked with pregnancy-associated malaria and poor pregnancy outcome, does not alter the expression of cell surface CSA. BeWo cells do not express the common P. falciparum adhesion receptor cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) on the cell surface, and this was unchanged after treatment with cytokines. These data demonstrate that in vitro cultured BeWo cells mimic the P. falciparum adhesion receptor expression profile of ex vivo placental cytotrophoblast cells.
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PMID:Effect of cytokine treatment on the in vitro expression of the P. falciparum adhesion receptor chondroitin-4-sulphate on the surface of human choriocarcinoma (BeWo) cells. 1752 Feb 89

During placental malaria, Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes sequester in the placenta, causing health problems for both the mother and fetus. The specific adherence is mediated by the VAR2CSA protein, which binds to placental chondroitin sulfate (CS) on chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) in the placental syncytium. However, the identity of the CSPG core protein and the cellular impact of the interaction have remain elusive. In this study we identified the specific CSPG core protein to which the CS is attached, and characterized its exact placental location. VAR2CSA pull-down experiments using placental extracts from whole placenta or syncytiotrophoblast microvillous cell membranes showed three distinct CSPGs available for VAR2CSA adherence. Further examination of these three CSPGs by immunofluorescence and proximity ligation assays showed that syndecan-1 is the main receptor for VAR2CSA mediated placental adherence. We further show that the commonly used placental choriocarcinoma cell line, BeWo, express a different set of proteoglycans than those present on placental syncytiotrophoblast and may not be the most biologically relevant model to study placental malaria. Syncytial fusion of the BeWo cells, triggered by forskolin treatment, caused an increased expression of placental CS-modified syndecan-1. In line with this, we show that rVAR2 binding to placental CS impairs syndecan-1-related Src signaling in forskolin treated BeWo cells, but not in untreated cells.
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PMID:Placental Sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Parasites Is Mediated by the Interaction Between VAR2CSA and Chondroitin Sulfate A on Syndecan-1. 2755 47