Of membranes and malaria: phospholipid asymmetry in Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells.

ABSTRACT: Malaria is a vector-borne parasitic disease with a vast impact on human history, and according to the World Health Organisation, Plasmodium parasites still infect over 200 million people per year. Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest parasite species, has a remarkable ability to undermine the host immune system and cause life-threatening disease during blood infection. The parasite's host cells, red blood cells (RBCs), generally maintain an asymmetric distribution of phospholipids in the two leaflets of the plasma membrane bilayer. Alterations to this asymmetry, particularly the exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS) in the outer leaflet, can be recognised by phagocytes. Because of the importance of innate immune defence numerous studies have investigated PS exposure in RBCs infected with P.

SUBMITTER: Fraser M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11071739 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature