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

Macrophage activation was examined in resistant C57BL/6 and susceptible A/J mice during the course of blood-stage infection with Plasmodium chabaudi AS. Three parameters of macrophage activation (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]- and malaria antigen-induced tumor necrosis factor [TNF] production in vitro, phorbol myristate acetate [PMA]-induced production of oxygen metabolites in vitro, and Ia antigen expression) were assessed during infection in populations of peritoneal and splenic macrophages recovered from infected mice of the two strains. The peak level of LPS-induced TNF production in vitro by splenic macrophages from both infected C57BL/6 and infected A/J mice occurred on day 7, which was 3 days before the peak of parasitemia. Although the kinetics of TNF production in vitro in response to either LPS, soluble malaria antigen, or intact parasitized erythrocytes varied in some of the other macrophage populations during infection, there was no significant difference in the peak level of production. Peritoneal and splenic macrophages from infected C57BL/6 mice exhibited significantly increased PMA-induced production of H2O2 in vitro on day 7. Peritoneal macrophages from infected A/J mice also exhibited significant PMA-induced H2O2 production on day 7, while production by splenic macrophages from these hosts was not increased in comparison with production by cells from normal animals. Only peritoneal macrophages from infected C57BL/6 mice produced significantly increased levels of O2-, and this occurred on day 7 postinfection. Ia antigen expression by both peritoneal and splenic macrophages from resistant C57BL/6 and susceptible A/J mice was significantly increased during P. chabaudi AS infection. However, the percentage of Ia+ peritoneal macrophages on days 8 and 10 postinfection and Ia+ splenic macrophages on day 3 postinfection was significantly higher in C57BL/6 than in A/J mice. Thus, these results demonstrate that macrophages from P. chabaudi AS-infected A/J mice exhibit defects in oxygen metabolism and Ia antigen expression which may contribute to the susceptibility of these hosts to this intraerythrocytic parasite. The cause-and-effect relationship between these defects and the susceptibility of A/J mice to P. chabaudi AS is unknown.
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PMID:Macrophage activation during Plasmodium chabaudi AS infection in resistant C57BL/6 and susceptible A/J mice. 131 5

Elevated serum or plasma concentration of immunoreactive tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is consistently detected in patients with malaria. TNF levels correlate with high parasitemia and clinical severity but not always with outcome. Since the effects of TNF may be neutralized by soluble TNF receptors, sera of 30 nonimmune patients with malaria were analyzed before and during antimalarial therapy. High concentrations of receptors R1 (55 kDa) and R2 (75 kDa) were detected immunologically in all sera of untreated patients. Levels of immunoreactive TNF correlated closely with levels of soluble TNF R1 and R2 (r = .75 and .59, respectively). In contrast, sera lacked cytotoxic activity against target cells in the TNF bioassays. Soluble TNF receptor levels remained elevated for days after treatment. These results suggest that excessive release of TNF induced by the asexual stage of malaria parasites is controlled by a subsequent shedding of soluble TNF receptors that may bind and deactivate biologically functional TNF.
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PMID:Soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors correlate with parasitemia and disease severity in human malaria. 822 85

The cytokine tumor necrosis factor and other as yet unidentified factor(s) which together mediate the killing of intraerythrocytic malaria parasites are transiently elevated in sera during paroxysms in human Plasmodium vivax infections in non-immunes. These factors which included TNF and parasite killing factor(s) are associated with the clinical disease in malaria to the extent that their transient presence in infection sera coincided with paroxysms, the the most pronounced clinical disturbances of P. vivax malaria and secondly because their levels were markedly lower in paroxysm sera of semi-immune patients who were resident of an endemic area. Further, a close parallel was obtained between serum TNF levels and changes in body temperature that occur during a P. vivax paroxysm in non-immune patients, suggesting a causative role for TNF in the fever in malaria. P. vivax rarely if ever cause complicated clinical syndromes. Nevertheless serum TNF levels reached in acutely ill P. vivax patients were as high as in patients suffering from cerebral complications of P. falciparum malaria as reported in studies from the Gambia. Cytokine profiles and other changes accompanying clinical disease in P. vivax and P. falciparum malaria are compared in this paper with a view to discussing the potential role of cytokines in the causation of disease in malaria.
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PMID:The role of cytokines in Plasmodium vivax malaria. 134 26

A natural body protein is probably a major cause of the deadliest complication of malaria, a finding that could point toward new methods of treatment. Studies in an experimental model indicate that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a protein also known as cachectin, is an essential element in highly fatal cerebral malaria. This contention is supported by the following observations. First, during the course of an infection by P. berghei ANKA strain, mice of a CM-susceptible strain express markedly elevated levels of TNF in their serum at the time that neurological signs are evident. Second, in contrast, either mice from nonsusceptible strains, susceptible strains depleted of CD4+ T lymphocytes, or susceptible mice inoculated with malaria organisms incapable of producing CM all fail to express high serum TNF activity. Third, passive immunization against mouse TNF significantly prolong the survival of P. berghei-infected CBA/Ca mice, and prevented the development of neurologic signs to an extent that was highly significant. Treatment with the anti-TNF antibody also prevents the histopathological lesions that are characteristic of CM, i.e. plugging of cerebral vessels by macrophages, lymphoid and parasitized erythrocytes. We have recently shown that this increased TNF release and macrophage accumulation are schematically made of two components, each mediated by different cytokines presumably released by stimulated CD4+ T lymphocytes: (a) a quantitative component: increased accumulation of macrophages results from the concomitant release of IL-3 and GM-CSF, and (b) a qualitative component: macrophage number has not only to be raised, but macrophages need to be activated by IFN-gamma. Thus, CM appears to be the result of a cytokine cascade mediated by the immune response. TNF might also be involved in the pathogenesis of human cerebral malaria. Indeed, we have recently shown that in african children with falciparum malaria, elevated serum concentrations of this molecule are associated with severe neurological involvement and fatal outcome. Clinical trials of treatment with monoclonal anti-TNF antibodies are presently underway in an attempt to reduce mortality and morbidity in african children with cerebral malaria.
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PMID:Essential role of tumor necrosis factor and other cytokines in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria: experimental and clinical studies. 135 36

For the hundreds of millions of people presently infected with malaria, survival may depend on relatively non-specific immune effector mechanisms. Progress has been made in understanding the anti-parasitic properties of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon-gamma and nitric oxide, in defining the parasite toxins that induce tumor necrosis factor-alpha production, and in exploring the role of cytokines and adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria.
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PMID:Malaria: becoming more specific about non-specific immunity. 138 44

A combination therapy was tested consisting of chloroquine and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in the late phase of blood-stage Plasmodium vinckei malaria in BALB/c mice. When mice were treated with three times 300 micrograms chloroquine at 24-h intervals starting at a parasitemia of 30%-50%, only 5 of 14 mice (36%) died 2-4 days after initiation of therapy. However, when infected mice received chloroquine plus 1 microgram IFN-gamma at the same time, 14 of 18 mice (78%) died 0.5-3 days after start of therapy (p < 0.05) despite clearance of parasitemia. The histopathology from mice dying after combination therapy revealed interstitial leukocyte infiltration of lung tissue, severe liver cell necrosis and kidney tubular necrosis. Pretreatment of P. vinckei-infected mice with pentoxifylline, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, led to a significant decrease of IFN-gamma-induced lethality (p < 0.05). In contrast, pretreatment with neutralizing antibodies to tumor necrosis factor or with L-N-monomethyl arginine, the latter an inhibitor of the nitric oxide synthase, significantly increased lethality (p < 0.05).
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PMID:Interferon-gamma induced lethality in the late phase of Plasmodium vinckei malaria despite effective parasite clearance by chloroquine. 142 13

Tumor necrosis factor and related cytokines are thought to be implicated in cell-mediated immunity and pathophysiology in malaria, but their mechanism of action has not been ascertained. Tumor necrosis factor has been reported to generate nitric oxide in vitro, so we have measured levels of this molecule and its products in the plasma of mice after they have received an injection of tumor necrosis factor, lymphotoxin, interleukin-1, gamma interferon, or interleukin-6, all of which have been reported to be increased in malaria. Total reactive nitrogen intermediate levels in plasma were assayed spectrophotometrically after exposing plasma to a copper-cadmium-zinc catalyst to convert nitrate to nitrite and then to Griess reagent. Tumor necrosis factor, lymphotoxin, and interleukin-1 all induced reactive nitrogen intermediates in vivo, with interleukin-1 showing the most activity. Tumor necrosis factor was then examined more closely. It induced more reactive nitrogen intermediates in malaria-infected mice than in normal mice, and appreciably more was in the form of nitrate than was in the form of nitrite. NG-methyl-L-arginine inhibited the in vivo generation of reactive nitrogen intermediates by tumor necrosis factor in a dose-dependent manner, implying that these molecules were arginine derived. These results are consistent with the possibility that tumor necrosis factor, lymphotoxin, and interleukin-1 may contribute to host pathology and parasite suppression through generation of nitric oxide.
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PMID:In vivo induction of nitrite and nitrate by tumor necrosis factor, lymphotoxin, and interleukin-1: possible roles in malaria. 150 Jan 82

High levels of interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor are found in both cases of malaria and cases of septic shock. Since both interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor induce expression of the proinflammatory enzyme phospholipase A2 (PLA2), we examined serum PLA2 levels in 14 adults with malaria. Mean serum PLA2 activity was elevated 40-fold above normal (P less than 0.001). Serum PLA2 activity correlated with PLA2 immunoreactivity (r = 0.987; P less than 0.001) by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay specific for human group II PLA2, showing that serum PLA2 in cases of malaria is host derived. This article describes the novel finding of elevated PLA2 levels in cases of malaria, further strengthening the notion that mediators of the host response in cases of malaria are similar to those in cases of septic shock.
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PMID:Induction of circulating group II phospholipase A2 expression in adults with malaria. 150 Feb 3

We have previously shown that malaria parasites liberate exoantigens which, through a phospholipid component, stimulate mouse macrophages to secrete tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which are toxic to D-galactosamine-sensitized mice, and which therefore might be involved in pathology. Plasmodium yoelii exoantigens detoxified by dephosphorylation or digestion with lipases do not induce TNF production. However, these partial structures inhibited its production in response to the exoantigens, although not to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). When pure phospholipids were tested in a macrophage assay, none stimulated the production of TNF, but phosphatidylinositol (PI) inhibited TNF induction by P. yoelii exoantigens. Moreover, inositol monophosphate (IMP) was the only one of a number of monophosphate saccharides tested which was inhibitory; inositol was not. Macrophages pretreated with PI, IMP, or detoxified exoantigens and then incubated with parasite exoantigens also yielded much less TNF. PI, IMP, and lipase-digested exoantigens of P. yoelii similarly inhibited the TNF-inducing activity of exoantigens of the human parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Neither PI nor IMP diminished TNF production in response to LPS, in contrast to a platelet-activating factor antagonist [1-O-hexadecyl-2-acetyl- sn-glycero-3-phospho(N,N,N-trimethyl hexanolamine)] which inhibited both exoantigen- and LPS-induced production of TNF. We conclude that at least two different parts of the molecule are involved in the induction of TNF secretion by parasite exoantigens: one requires the presence of a phosphate bound to inositol, and, since dephosphorylated exoantigens were also inhibitory, one does not. It would seem that both affect interactions between parasite-derived exoantigens and the macrophage receptors.
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PMID:Detoxified exoantigens and phosphatidylinositol derivatives inhibit tumor necrosis factor induction by malarial exoantigens. 156 80

Paroxysms are sharp episodes of high fever accompanied by chills and rigors that occur periodically, once in every 48 hr in Plasmodium vivax infections. We have measured the changing levels of serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF) during paroxysms in non-immune patients infected with P. vivax malaria. The changes in TNF levels closely paralleled the rise and fall in temperature during the paroxysms but tended to precede them by 30-60 min. These observations suggest that the rise and fall in temperature during P. vivax paroxysm may be directly related to the periodic changes in TNF levels induced during these infections. The peak TNF levels reached during P. vivax infections were much higher than even those which have been recorded during severe and fatal P. falciparum infections in which TNF has been postulated to contribute to the severe manifestations of this disease.
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PMID:Dynamics of fever and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor are closely associated during clinical paroxysms in Plasmodium vivax malaria. 156 11


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