Treatment of Plasmodium falciparum merozoites with the protease inhibitor E64 and mechanical filtration increases their susceptibility to complement activation.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium falciparum malaria killed 451,000 people in 2017. Merozoites, the stage of the parasite that invades RBCs, are a logical target for vaccine development. Treatment with the protease inhibitor E64 followed by filtration through a 1.2 μm filter is being used to purify merozoites for immunologic assays. However, there have been no studies to determine the effect of these treatments on the susceptibility of merozoites to complement or antibodies. To address this gap, we purified merozoites with or without E64 followed by filtration through either a 1.2 or 2.7 μm filter, or no filtration. Merozoites were then incubated in either 10% fresh or heat-inactivated serum followed by surface staining and flow cytometry with monoclonal antibodies against the complement effector molecules C3b o

SUBMITTER: Stoute JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7442247 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature