Molecular aspects of malaria pathogenesis Export

@article{citeulike:6110649, abstract = {Plasmodium falciparum being the most lethal plasmodiae is still a major cause of the disease burden and mortality in malaria endemic areas. Due to the wide spread drug resistance in combination with poor socio-economic situation in the vast majority of the endemic countries, malaria is today a great global challenge. The scientific community is, however, progressing. The 23 Mb genome of P. falciparum has been decoded and publicly available. Data of transcriptional profiling at certain developmental stages have already been generated. More than 50\% of P. falciparum genes are transcribed constitutively in all the developmental stages of parasite life cycle. Functional disruption of these genes might have implications for parasite growth and development. Available microarray data indicate that P. falciparum preferentially expresses rif and stevor gene families at gametocyte and sporozoite stages while var genes are predominantly expressed at the erythrocytic stage. Gene regulation mechanisms of the variant gene families in P. falciparum are still not understood though some regulatory elements have been proposed. The occurrence of severe malaria is determined by both parasite and human host factors. Sequestration and antigenic variation are two of the evasion mechanisms utilized by P. falciparum in order to escape the human host defences. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenomena is of a major importance and interest in malaria research. Here, we summarize and highlight the recent progress in molecular aspects of severe malaria.}, address = {Microbiology and Tumour Biology Centre, Karolinska Institute, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Box 280, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden}, author = {Rasti, Niloofar and Wahlgren, Mats and Chen, Qijun}, citeulike-article-id = {6110649}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.femsim.2004.01.010}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/118788425/ABSTRACT}, doi = {10.1016/j.femsim.2004.01.010}, issn = {1574-695X}, journal = {FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology}, keywords = {factors, falciparum, plasmodium, virulence}, number = {1}, pages = {9--26}, posted-at = {2009-11-13 20:52:42}, priority = {2}, title = {Molecular aspects of malaria pathogenesis}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.femsim.2004.01.010}, volume = {41}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:6110649 L3 - citeulike-article-id:6110649 N2 - Plasmodium falciparum being the most lethal plasmodiae is still a major cause of the disease burden and mortality in malaria endemic areas. Due to the wide spread drug resistance in combination with poor socio-economic situation in the vast majority of the endemic countries, malaria is today a great global challenge. The scientific community is, however, progressing. The 23 Mb genome of P. falciparum has been decoded and publicly available. Data of transcriptional profiling at certain developmental stages have already been generated. More than 50% of P. falciparum genes are transcribed constitutively in all the developmental stages of parasite life cycle. Functional disruption of these genes might have implications for parasite growth and development. Available microarray data indicate that P. falciparum preferentially expresses rif and stevor gene families at gametocyte and sporozoite stages while var genes are predominantly expressed at the erythrocytic stage. Gene regulation mechanisms of the variant gene families in P. falciparum are still not understood though some regulatory elements have been proposed. The occurrence of severe malaria is determined by both parasite and human host factors. Sequestration and antigenic variation are two of the evasion mechanisms utilized by P. falciparum in order to escape the human host defences. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenomena is of a major importance and interest in malaria research. Here, we summarize and highlight the recent progress in molecular aspects of severe malaria. IS - 1 JF - FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology SN - 1574-695X AD - Microbiology and Tumour Biology Centre, Karolinska Institute, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Box 280, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden EP - 26 TI - Molecular aspects of malaria pathogenesis VL - 41 SP - 9 KW - factors KW - falciparum KW - plasmodium KW - virulence AU - Rasti, Niloofar AU - Wahlgren, Mats AU - Chen, Qijun PY - 2004/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.femsim.2004.01.010 ER -