Anopheles stephensiWIKIMEDIA, RSABBATINIMalaria-causing parasites transmitted to mice through mosquitoes are less virulent and induce a more protective immune response than parasites injected directly into the blood stream, according to a new study published today (May 29) in Nature. The researchers also identified a set of antigen-encoding genes whose expression is modified by mosquito transmission, suggesting that the parasite may accrue changes in the mosquito vector that in turn provoke a more effective immune response in its mammalian host.
“This is an extraordinarily stimulating paper, and should be the start of quite a lot of new work,” said Andrew Read of Penn State University, who wrote an accompanying commentary for Nature but was not involved in the study.
“We’ve shown that something happens [to the parasite] in that cycle from the mosquito through to the blood-stage infection that is attenuating virulence,” said Jean Langhorne of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London, U.K., who led the study. “That opens up a new set of experiments to investigate the interplay between the changes that occur in the parasite and the type of immune response in the host. If we can dissect that mechanism, then we will have good handle on what might be ...
