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)

Genetic resistance to malaria is associated with various genetic factors, including erythrocytic variability and variability of the genes involved into the pathogenetic process. Some genetic anomalies resulted from selective malaria pressure, which brought into existence different forms of hemoglobinopathies, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and no Duffy antigens, and ovalocytosis, etc., which ensured varying malaria resistance. Cell adhesion is a major factor in the pathogenesis of malaria. Adhesion molecules express on the cellular membranes of the endothelium, platelets, macrophages, red blood cells and serve as binding receptors for membrane proteins PFRMP-1 of P. falciparum. Polymorphism of the CD36, ICAM-1, and PECAM1 genes can lower binding to blood vessel endothelial cells, which reduces the number of clinical forms of malaria. The high serum TNF-alpha level that is caused by mutation in the promoter of the TNF-alpha gene is associated with cerebral malaria. TNF-alpha enhances the endothelial expression of adhesion molecules, by increasing the adhesion of infected erythrocytes, including that in cerebral capillaries, by inducing in patients local thrombosis and inflammation with release of the cytokines--TNF-alpha. The products of inflammatory infiltrates attack the endothelium, by leading to the imbibition of plasma and erythrocytes in brain tissue and causing a cerebral form of malaria.
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PMID:[Genetic resistance to malaria]. 1956 55

The Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) antigens play a major role in cytoadhesion of infected erythrocytes (IE), antigenic variation, and immunity to malaria. The current consensus on control of variant surface antigen expression is that only one PfEMP1 encoded by one var gene is expressed per cell at a time. We measured var mRNA transcript levels by real-time Q-PCR, analysed var gene transcripts by single-cell FISH and directly compared these with PfEMP1 antigen surface expression and cytoadhesion in three different antibody-selected P. falciparum 3D7 sub-lines using live confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and in vitro adhesion assays. We found that one selected parasite sub-line simultaneously expressed two different var genes as surface antigens, on single IE. Importantly, and of physiological relevance to adhesion and malaria pathogenesis, this parasite sub-line was found to bind both CD31/PECAM1 and CD54/ICAM1 and to adhere twice as efficiently to human endothelial cells, compared to infected cells having only one PfEMP1 variant on the surface. These new results on PfEMP1 antigen expression indicate that a re-evaluation of the molecular mechanisms involved in P. falciparum adhesion and of the accepted paradigm of absolutely mutually exclusive var gene transcription is required.
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PMID:Surface co-expression of two different PfEMP1 antigens on single plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes facilitates binding to ICAM1 and PECAM1. 2082 88

Members of the Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) family expressed on the surface of malaria-infected erythrocytes mediate binding of the parasite to different receptors on the vascular lining. This process drives pathologies, and severe childhood malaria has been associated with the expression of particular subsets of PfEMP1 molecules. PfEMP1 are grouped into subtypes based on upstream sequences and the presence of semi-conserved PfEMP1 domain compositions named domain cassettes (DCs). Earlier studies have indicated that DC5-containing PfEMP1 (DC5-PfEMP1) are more likely to be expressed in children with severe malaria disease than in children with uncomplicated malaria, but these PfEMP1 subtypes only dominate in a relatively small proportion of the children with severe disease. In this study, we have characterised the genomic sequence characteristic for DC5, and show that two genetically different parasite lines expressing DC5-PfEMP1 bind PECAM1, and that anti-DC5-specific antibodies inhibit binding of DC5-PfEMP1-expressing parasites to transformed human bone marrow endothelial cells (TrHBMEC). We also show that antibodies against each of the four domains characteristic for DC5 react with native PfEMP1 expressed on the surface of infected erythrocytes, and that some of these antibodies are cross-reactive between the two DC5-containing PfEMP1 molecules tested. Finally, we confirm that anti-DC5 antibodies are acquired early in life by individuals living in malaria endemic areas, that individuals having high levels of these antibodies are less likely to develop febrile malaria episodes and that the antibody levels correlate positively with hemoglobin levels.
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PMID:Plasmodium falciparum expressing domain cassette 5 type PfEMP1 (DC5-PfEMP1) bind PECAM1. 2387 84

Platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM1/CD31), a receptor recognized by P. falciparum-infected red blood cells (iRBCs), on the vascular endothelium has been implicated in mediating cytoadherence in patients with P. falciparum malaria. To examine associations of PECAM1 polymorphisms with cerebral malaria, 11 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PECAM1 were analysed for 312 Thai patients with P. falciparum malaria (109 with cerebral malaria and 203 with mild malaria). The rs1122800-C allele was significantly associated with protection from cerebral malaria (P = 0.017), and the rs9912957-A significantly increased the risk for cerebral malaria (P = 0.0065) in malaria patients. Fine-scale mapping using genotyped and imputed SNPs and linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis revealed that rs1122800 and rs9912957 were located in two distinct LD blocks and were independently associated with cerebral malaria. The rs1122800-C allele was significantly associated with lower expression level of PECAM1 in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (P = 0.045). The present results suggest that PECAM1-mediated cytoadherence of iRBCs to brain endothelium plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria.
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PMID:Association of PECAM1/CD31 polymorphisms with cerebral malaria. 2733 27