Submicroscopic infections with Plasmodium falciparum during pregnancy and their association with circulating cytokine, chemokine, and cellular profiles.

ABSTRACT: The immunological consequences of pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) due to Plasmodium falciparum have been extensively investigated in cross-sectional studies conducted at delivery, but there have been very few longitudinal studies of changes due to PAM during pregnancy. We conducted a prospective study in Benin to investigate the changes associated with PAM in groups of 131 and 111 women at inclusion in the second trimester and at delivery, respectively. Infected women were identified by standard microscopic examinations of blood smears and by quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays and were matched to uninfected control women by age, gestational age, and gravidity. We quantified plasma levels of a panel of soluble immunological mediators and other mediators, as well as the frequencies of periphe

SUBMITTER: Ibitokou SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4054237 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature