PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Malaria parasite's essential doorway into red blood cells illuminated

2015-05-07
(Press-News.org) Boston, MA -- Researchers at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the Broad Institute have identified a protein on the surface of human red blood cells that serves as an essential entry point for invasion by the malaria parasite. The presence of this protein, called CD55, was found to be critical to the Plasmodium falciparum parasite's ability to attach itself to the red blood cell surface during invasion. This discovery opens up a promising new avenue for the development of therapies to treat and prevent malaria.

"Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites have evolved several key-like molecules to enter into human red blood cells through different door-like host receptors. Hence, if one red blood cell door is blocked, the parasite finds another way to enter," said senior author Manoj Duraisingh, John LaPorte Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard Chan. "We have now identified an essential host factor which when removed prevents all parasite strains from entering red blood cells."

The five-year study was carried out in collaboration with labs at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute. It appears online May 7, 2015 in Science.

Severe malaria is one of the leading causes of mortality among children globally. During infection, parasites invade and replicate within red blood cells. With resistance to malaria drugs increasing, researchers are desperate to find new ways to prevent and treat the disease.

Lead author Elizabeth Egan, research fellow in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard Chan and instructor in pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, and colleagues developed a new technique to tap into a relatively unexplored area -- identifying characteristics of a host red blood cell that make it susceptible to the parasites. Red blood cells are difficult targets for such efforts as they lack a nucleus, which makes genetic manipulation impossible.

The researchers transformed stem cells into red blood cells, which allowed them to conduct a genetic screen for host determinants of P. falciparum infection. They found that malaria parasites failed to attach properly to the surface of red blood cells that lacked CD55. The protein was required for invasion in all tested strains of the parasite, including those developed in a laboratory as well as those isolated from patients, making it a primary candidate for intervention.

"The discovery of CD55 as an essential host factor for P. falciparum raises the intriguing possibility of host-directed therapeutics for malaria, as is used in HIV," said Egan. "CD55 also gives us a hook with which to search for new parasite proteins important for invasion, which could serve as vaccine targets."

INFORMATION:

This study was supported by a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Exploration Award OPP1035276 (M.T.D.), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R01AI091787 (M.T.D.), a Pediatric Scientist Development Program Fellowship from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development K12-HD000850 (E.S.E), NIH grant K08 1K08AI103034-01A1 (E.S.E.), Boston Children's Hospital Faculty Development Award (E.S.E.), NIH grant K01DK098285 (J.A.P.), and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Center, UK (M.P.W. and L.V.N.).

"A forward genetic screen identifies erythrocyte CD55 as essential for Plasmodium falciparum invasion," Elizabeth S. Egan, Rays H.Y. Jiang, Mischka A. Moechtar, Natasha S. Barteneva, Michael P. Weekes, Luis V. Nobre, Steven P. Gygi, Joao A. Paulo, Charles Frantzreb, Yoshihiko Tani, Junko Takahashi, Seishi Watanabe, Jonathan Goldberg, Aditya S. Paul, Carlo Brugnara, David E. Root, Roger C. Wiegand, John G. Doench, Manoj T. Duraisingh, Science, online Visit the Harvard Chan website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people's lives--not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America's oldest professional training program in public health.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Light in sight: a step towards a potential therapy for acquired blindness

2015-05-07
Hereditary blindness caused by a progressive degeneration of the light-sensing cells in the eye, the photoreceptors, affects millions of people worldwide. Although the light-sensing cells are lost, cells in deeper layers of the retina, which normally cannot sense light, remain intact. A promising new therapeutic approach based on a technology termed "optogenetics" is to introduce light-sensing proteins into these surviving retinal cells, turning them into "replacement photoreceptors" and thereby restoring vision. However, several factors limit the feasibility of a clinical ...

A deadly shadow: Measles may weaken immune system up to 3 years

2015-05-07
PRINCETON, N.J.--The measles virus is known to cast a deadly shadow upon children by temporarily suppressing their immune systems. While this vulnerability was previously thought to have lasted a month or two, a new study shows that children may actually live in the immunological shadow of measles for up to three years - leaving them highly susceptible to a host of other deadly diseases. Published in the journal Science, the study, led by researchers from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary ...

Gene expression is key to understanding differences between individuals and disease susceptibility

2015-05-07
This news release is available in Spanish. Although the genetic blueprint of every cell is the same, each cell has the potential to become specific for a tissue or organ by controlling its gene expression. Thus, every cell "reads" or "switches on" a particular set of genes according to whether it should become a skin, heart, or liver cell. Launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2010, the GTEx Project aims to create a reference database and tissue bank for scientists to study how genomic variants affect gene activity and disease susceptibility. Following ...

Electrons corralled using new quantum tool

2015-05-07
CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Researchers have succeeded in creating a new "whispering gallery" effect for electrons in a sheet of graphene -- making it possible to precisely control a region that reflects electrons within the material. They say the accomplishment could provide a basic building block for new kinds of electronic lenses, as well as quantum-based devices that combine electronics and optics. The new system uses a needle-like probe that forms the basis of present-day scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), enabling control of both the location and the size of the reflecting ...

Fragments of tRNA suggest a novel mechanism for cancer progression

2015-05-07
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the presence of short stretches of genetic material floating inside a variety of cells, ranging from bacteria to mammals, including humans. These fragments are pieces of the genetic instructions cells use to make proteins, but are too short a length to serve their usual purpose. Reporting in this week's Cell, researchers at Rockefeller have discovered a major clue to the role these fragments play in the body -- and in the process, may have opened up a new frontier in the fight against breast cancer. Specifically, Sohail Tavazoie ...

Rockefeller scientists resolve debate over how many bacteria fight off invaders

2015-05-07
Every inch of our body, inside and out, is oozing with bacteria. In fact, the human body carries 10 times the number of bacterial cells as human cells. Many are our friends, helping us digest food and fight off infections, for instance. But much about these abundant organisms, upon which our life depends, remains mysterious. In research reported May 7 in Cell, scientists at Rockefeller finally crack the code of a fundamental process bacteria use to defend themselves against invaders. For years, researchers have puzzled over conflicting results about the workings of a ...

'Fracture' prints, not fingerprints, help solve child abuse cases

Fracture prints, not fingerprints, help solve child abuse cases
2015-05-07
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Much like a finger leaves its own unique print to help identify a person, researchers are now discovering that skull fractures leave certain signatures that can help investigators better determine what caused the injury. Implications from the Michigan State University research could help with the determination of truth in child abuse cases, potentially resulting in very different outcomes. Until now, multiple skull fractures meant several points of impact to the head and often were thought to suggest child abuse. Roger Haut, a University Distinguished ...

WSU ecologist warns of bamboo fueling spread of hantavirus

2015-05-07
PULLMAN, Wash.--Washington State University researchers say the popularity of bamboo landscaping could increase the spread of hantavirus, with the plant's prolific seed production creating a population boom among seed-eating deer mice that carry the disease. Richard Mack, an ecologist in WSU's School of Biological Sciences, details how an outbreak could happen in a recent issue of the online journal PLOS One. Bamboo plants are growing in popularity, judging by the increased number of species listed by the American Bamboo Society. Some grow in relatively self-contained ...

How to build a new global health framework

2015-05-07
WASHINGTON -- Can a true, robust global health framework be created to help prevent tragedies like Ebola while at the same time allow countries to meet everyday health needs? Georgetown University global health and law experts say it can be done, and in a special issue of "The Lancet" focusing on global health security, they propose specific priorities to transform a fragmented health system into a "purposeful, organized" framework with national health systems at its foundation and an empowered World Health Organization at its apex. "The Ebola epidemic in west Africa ...

The Lancet: Can the Ebola outbreak rejuvenate global health security?

2015-05-07
The west African Ebola epidemic has rekindled interest in global health security, but it has also highlighted a troubling lack of political commitment to public health, and it is far from clear whether the crisis will be enough to rejuvenate global health security, say leading global health experts writing in The Lancet. Through a series of essays [1], the review, which is published as part of a special issue on global health security, explores different perspectives on the wider lessons that can be drawn from the outbreak, including how it has demonstrated the importance ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Study tracks chromium chemistry in irradiated molten salts

Scientists: the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health

Being physically active, even just a couple of days a week, may be key to better health

High-fat diet promote breast cancer metastasis in animal models

A router for photons

Nurses and AI collaborate to save lives, reduce hospital stays

Multi-resistance in bacteria predicted by AI model

Tinker Tots: A citizen science project to explore ethical dilemmas in embryo selection

Sensing sickness

Cost to build multifamily housing in California more than twice as high as in Texas

Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

[Press-News.org] Malaria parasite's essential doorway into red blood cells illuminated