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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It is now generally accepted that peripheral blood of humans not exposed previously to malaria contains T cells which proliferate vigorously in response to malaria parasites and antigens. Although it has been claimed that these cells express a memory phenotype, their origin is uncertain. We have examined the phenotype and immunological responses of such cells. We confirm that these cells do express the 'memory phenotype', CD45Ro, in that depletion of such cells, but not of CD45Ra (virgin) cells, abrogates the immune response to malaria parasites. In an effort to define the genesis of these responses, numerous malaria-specific T cell clones have been generated from non-exposed individuals. These were tested for reactivity to a large panel of common bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms. Most clones proliferated vigorously in response to one or more such organisms, while many clones demonstrated smaller but significant degrees of proliferation in response to many different organisms. Our data offers insights into the maintenance of immunological memory. All clones examined were CD3+, CD4+, CD8-, TCR alpha beta+, and TCR delta-. The ratio of TCR alpha beta+ to TCR delta+ cells among peripheral blood lymphocytes increased during polyclonal culture in the presence of parasite. The high frequency of such cells in peripheral blood (1/800-1/9000), and their response to a wide range of geographically different Plasmodium falciparum isolates and clones by both proliferation and lymphokine secretion (predominantly IFN-gamma) with a high degree of sensitivity (less than 1 parasite/microliters blood in some cases) suggests that these cells must be quickly activated following malaria infection. Their contribution to the outcome of the disease (protection/immunopathology) may be significant.
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PMID:'Natural' T cells responsive to malaria: evidence implicating immunological cross-reactivity in the maintenance of TCR alpha beta+ malaria-specific responses from non-exposed donors. 139 Apr 41

A major goal of current candidate malaria vaccines is to stimulate the expansion of clones of malaria-specific lymphocytes. We have examined the in vitro T cell responses of a group of malaria exposed and non-exposed adult Caucasian donors to recombinant circumsporozoite (CS) proteins, one of which is undergoing clinical trials, to blood-stage parasites, and to synthetic peptides copying the CS protein and defined blood-stage proteins. In nearly all individuals tested, CD4 T cell proliferation or lymphokine production occurred in response to whole parasite or CS protein stimulation, and T cells from many individuals responded to synthetic peptides. T cell responses were major histocompatibility complex-restricted, and stimulation of T cells with malaria parasites or CS protein did not appear to expand a population of T cell receptor gamma/delta cells. Malaria-specific responses were independent of prior malaria exposure, and in some cases exceeded the magnitude of response to tetanus toxoid. Specific T cells are present in high frequency in the peripheral blood of many donors who have never been exposed to malaria. Although malaria-specific CD4 T cells play an important role in immunity, these data question whether vaccines need to stimulate such cells, and focus attention on other aspects of malaria immunity which may be more critical to a successful vaccine.
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PMID:High frequency of malaria-specific T cells in non-exposed humans. 154 14

Although a number of mechanisms have been put forward for immunity to malaria, their importance remains to be clarified. One of the important findings is that nonactivated monocytes and macrophages showed marked antiplasmodial activity in vitro. Recently we postulated that parasites may induce host factors that may depress the natural antiplasmodial activity of monocytes. In this investigation we identify IL-4 as a lymphokine that could function in this capacity. Human monocytes and macrophages in the absence of antiplasmodial antibody showed substantial killing of the asexual erythrocytic forms of Plasmodium falciparum as determined by a radiometric assay. Suppression of this killing was seen if the mononuclear phagocytes were pretreated with human rIL-4 at concentrations of 10 to 250 U with optimum activity between 100 and 250 U/2 x 10(5) cells. Cells from some individuals were rendered completely inactive by the IL-4 treatment. In contrast, IL-4 did not affect the neutrophil-mediated anti-P. falciparum activity. Our work identifies a potentially important parasite immune evasion mechanism involving IL-4 suppression of macrophage antiparasite activity.
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PMID:IL-4 inhibits macrophage-mediated killing of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro. A possible parasite-immune evasion mechanism. 160 52

In previous work, a T-helper epitope was mapped within the circumsporozoite protein of the murine malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii. A 21-mer synthetic peptide corresponding to this epitope (amino acid positions 59-79; referred to as Py1) induced a specific T-cell proliferation in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and provided help for the production of antibodies to peptides from the repetitive region, (Gln-Gly-Pro-Gly-Ala-Pro)n, of the P. yoelii circumsporozoite protein when mice were immunized with the Py1 peptide conjugated to the repetitive peptide. Experiments were then designed to study the in vitro antiparasite efficacy of T cells elicited in vivo by peptide immunization. T-cell activity was evaluated on cultured hepatic stages of P. yoelii. Peptide immunizations led to the preferential activation of CD8+ T cells in BALB/c mice and of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in C57BL/6 mice. Parasite elimination was mediated directly by these cells and did not seem to be dependent on lymphokine secretion. These data suggest that peptide-primed CD4+ T cells as well as CD8+ T cells could be cytolytic for the hepatic phase of malaria parasites. The fact that the same peptide could activate different lymphocyte populations, depending on the strain of mouse, highlights the importance of a better understanding of the fine mechanisms behind the immune responses to synthetic peptides being tested for malaria vaccine development.
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PMID:In vitro activity of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes from mice immunized with a synthetic malaria peptide. 168 Feb 35

The role of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), a pluripotent lymphokine capable of activating macrophages, in acquired immunity to blood-stage malaria was investigated. C57BL-derived, lipopolysaccharide-resistant C57BL/10ScN mice, which were found to be resistant to intraperitoneal (i.p.) infection with 10(6) Plasmodium chabaudi AS parasitized erythrocytes, were treated with monoclonal anti-IFN-gamma antibody (MAb). Two MAbs were used: R4-6A2, a rat anti-mouse, neutralizing immunoglobulin G1, which was prepared against natural murine IFN-gamma, and DB-1, a murine anti-rat immunoglobulin G1 prepared against recombinant rat IFN-gamma, which can neutralize the murine molecule as well as the rat molecule. C57BL/10ScNH mice were injected i.p. with 200 micrograms of R4-6A2 1 day before infection and every 3 days through day 21. Control mice were treated with normal rat serum. In separate experiments, DB-1 (1.0 mg per week for 4 weeks) was administered i.p. to C57BL/10ScNH mice beginning on the day of infection; control mice were untreated. Control and MAb-treated mice were infected i.p. with 10(6) P. chabaudi AS parasitized erythrocytes, and the course and outcome of infection were determined. Control mice exhibited a course of infection that was characterized by a peak parasitemia between 30 and 40% parasitized erythrocytes and elimination of the parasite by 4 weeks. MAb-treated mice exhibited a significantly greater parasitemia 1 to 2 days before the peak parasitemia as well as a significantly greater peak parasitemia but also completely cleared the infection by 4 weeks. Thus, these results suggest that treatment with anti-IFN-gamma MAb impairs but does not completely abrogate host resistance to P. chabaudi AS. We also examined the kinetics of IFN-gamma production by spleen cells cultured in vitro with malaria antigen or concanavalin A. Spleen cells were recovered from individual C57BL/6 mice at various times after i.p. infection with 10(6) P. chabaudi AS parasitized erythrocytes. The amount of IFN-gamma produced was quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In each case, the peak of IFN-gamma production occurred just before the peak parasitemia, followed by a decrease to little or no IFN-gamma production through 42 days postinfection. There was thus a parallel between the kinetics of production of IFN-gamma in vitro by spleen cells from infected animals and the requirement in vivo for the endogenous molecule just before and at the time of peak parasitemia. In conclusion, these results suggest that IFN-gamma-dependent and -independent mechanisms contribute to host resistance to P. chabaudi AS.
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PMID:Role of endogenous gamma interferon in host response to infection with blood-stage Plasmodium chabaudi AS. 211 42

A specific DNA probe was used to study the effect of recombinant rat, mouse, and human gamma-interferon (gamma-IFN) on the course of sporozoite-induced malaria infections. In mice and rats infected with sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei, mouse and rat gamma-IFN's strongly inhibited the development of the exoerythrocytic forms in the liver liver cells of the hosts, but not the development of the erythrocytic stages. The degree of inhibition of the exoerythrocytic forms was proportional to the dose of gamma-IFN administered, but was independent of the number of sporozoites used for challenge. A 30 percent reduction in the development of exoerythrocytic forms in rat liver was achieved when 150 units (about 15 nanograms of protein) of rat gamma-IFN were injected a few hours before sporozoite challenge; the reduction was 90 percent or more with higher doses of gamma-IFN. The effect was less pronounced if the gamma-IFN was administered 18 hours before or a few hours after challenge. Human gamma-IFN also diminished the parasitemia in chimpanzees infected with sporozoites of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. The target of gamma-IFN activity may be the infected hepatocytes themselves, as shown by in vitro experiments in which small doses of the human lymphokine inhibited the development of exoerythrocytic forms of Plasmodium berghei in a human hepatoma cell line. These results suggest that immunologically induced interferon may be involved in controlling malaria infection under natural conditions.
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PMID:Inhibition of development of exoerythrocytic forms of malaria parasites by gamma-interferon. 308 18

When mononuclear cells derived from the blood of unsensitized adult Caucasians are incubated for 22 hours with supernatants from cultures of Plasmodium falciparum, there is a substantial stimulation of the phagocytic capacity of the adherent monocytes for anti-D sensitized red cells. This stimulatory effect is dependent on (i) a heat-stable factor in such supernatants, (ii) the presence of T lymphocytes in the mononuclear cell preparations and (iii) the occurrence of DNA synthesis in the mononuclear cell cultures. It is proposed that the malaria culture supernatant contains a mitogen which acts on non-allergized T lymphocytes and that the stimulation of such lymphocytes probably causes the release of a lymphokine which enhances the phagocytic activity of cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system.
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PMID:Human monocyte activation by supernatants from continuous cultures of Plasmodium falciparum. 391 68

Culture supernatants from antigen-pulsed spleen cells of mice infected previously with either BCG or Plasmodium chabaudi were used to study macrophage activation as judged by phagocytosis of immunoglobulin G-sensitized erythrocytes and Plasmodium berghei- and P. chabaudi-infected erythrocytes. Resident peritoneal macrophages were incubated in vitro with spleen cell factor and then assayed for ingestion of immunoglobulin G-sensitized or parasitized erythrocytes. Macrophages activated with BCG-induced lymphokine bound and ingested two- to threefold more P. berghei parasitized erythrocytes than macrophages incubated with control spleen cell factor. Similarly, Plasmodium-stimulated spleen cells from mice infected with malaria produced a lymphokine(s) capable of activating macrophages for enhanced Fc receptor-mediated phagocytosis. The stimulation of phagocytosis by the lymphokine is nonspecific in nature, since phagocytosis of parasitized erythrocytes from one species of murine malaria is enhanced by the lymphokine prepared from a heterologous species. Nylon wool-nonadherent, malaria-sensitized spleen cells elaborated a lymphokine which stimulates macrophages for enhanced phagocytosis, whereas anti-0-treated spleen cells failed to produce the phagocytosis-promoting lymphokine. Consequently, this lymphokine appears to be elaborated by sensitized T lymphocytes. Interestingly, enhanced phagocytosis of opsonized trophozoites and schizonts, but not ring stage parasites of P. chabaudi, was displayed by macrophages activated with the lymphokine(s) prepared from P. chabaudi-recovered mice. Preincubation of the malaria parasitized erythrocytes with hyperimmune serum raised against the parasites greatly facilitated both binding and ingestion by the stimulated macrophages.
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PMID:Malaria-induced lymphokines: stimulation of macrophages for enhanced phagocytosis. 635 30

Previous investigations on the mechanism by which the host mounts an immune response against the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have not resolved whether cell-mediated responses, in the absence of circulating anti-Plasmodial antibodies, can effect the destruction of the intraerythrocytic parasite. We report that the intraerythrocytic parasite P. falciparum is lethally susceptible to the imposition of oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent factor(s) released by interferon-gamma-activated, monocyte-derived human macrophages. In addition, trophozoite-schizont stage intraerythrocytic parasites were killed on exposure to small amounts of H2O2 generated in cell-free enzyme assays. Although parasiticidal activity was markedly enhanced by the addition of lactoperoxidase and KI, killing was abrogated by the addition of catalase. The ability of freshly isolated human monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM), and lymphokine-activated MDM to kill or inhibit the growth and multiplication of the malaria parasites was assessed. Parasites were killed when exposed to monocytes or lymphokine-activated MDM, but not when exposed to nonactivated macrophages. The capacity to activate MDM for microbicidal activity was abrogated on neutralization of crude lymphokines or recombinant interferon-gamma with a monoclonal antibody prepared against interferon-gamma. The intraerythrocytic parasites surviving the cytotoxicity assay were inhibited in their development and appeared to be degenerating, a characteristic of "crisis" forms. Killing of P. falciparum correlated positively with the magnitude of the oxidative response, as evidenced by the reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium to formazan in the mononuclear phagocytes, and by the detection of secreted H2O2. Of particular interest was the observation that only the later developing stage of the intracellular parasite triggered the respiratory burst in the absence of antibody. A role for oxygen-independent parasiticidal factors was suggested by the finding that lymphokine-activated macrophages from a patient with chronic granulomatous disease were able to partially inhibit the growth of P. falciparum, although oxidative metabolism in these cells was impaired.
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PMID:Induction of crisis forms in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum by gamma-interferon-activated, monocyte-derived macrophages. 643 Oct 3

Previously, CD4+ T cell lines and clones were isolated after immunization of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with the Py1 peptide, a 21-mer synthetic peptide corresponding to a N-terminal segment of the circumsporozoite protein of Plasmodium yoelii. The clones were separated into the Th1 and Th2 subsets on the basis of lymphokine production. It was observed that immunization with the Py1 peptide induced preferentially Th1 cells in BALB/c and Th2 cells in C57BL/6 mice. These clones were then tested for their cytolytic ability in vitro. Some of the clones from BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice eliminated liver stage parasites from cultured hepatocytes in a MHC restricted manner. Nevertheless, none of these clones was able to lyse Py1 peptide-pulsed target cells. It was also found that two clones could protect BALB/c mice against a sporozoite challenge. These results provide evidence that CD4+ T cells, induced after priming with a defined peptide, could participate in the effector mechanisms against malaria liver stages.
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PMID:Effector functions of circumsporozoite peptide-primed CD4+ T cell clones against Plasmodium yoelii liver stages. 767 28


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