Techniques avancées en biologie et médecine
Libre accès
ISSN: 2379-1764
ISSN: 2379-1764
Awoke Minwuyelet
Malaria, which is caused by Plasmodium parasites, is one of the most important infectious diseases worldwide. Plasmodium parasites in humans use various pathways to communicate within their own population and to manipulate their outside environments, with the ultimate goal of balancing the rate of growth and transmission. For example, circulating extracellular vesicles are increasingly recognized as the key mediators of physiological and pathological processes of a pathogen. Extracellular vesicles are pathogen products consisting of bi-lipid membrane spheres that are secreted from infected-host cells and contain proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Based on size and biogenesis, EVs can be categorized into exosomes (released from multivesicular bodies), microvesicles/microparticles and apoptotic bodies (originated by plasma membrane budding). While the function of excretory vesicles have mostly been described in mouse models and some in clinical patients, and some of these are already in place for routine patient care, it is in its early stage in the field of malaria. Given that host-derived EVs can play key role in sensitization of host defense and as of the perspectives of recent studies providing that vesicles are elevated during infection progression and have induced pro-inflammatory activity, they are highly likely to be used as a candidate in producing vaccines against pathogenic diseases affecting millions of human life, as in the case of malaria. This review aimed to discuss the role of excretory vesicles derived from Plasmodium infected red blood cells in the pathogenesis of malaria.