Kunwittaya Sarun, Treeratanapiboon Lertyot, Srisarin Apapan, Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya Chartchalerm, Prachayasittikul Virapong
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Applied Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Center for Innovation Development and Technology Transfer, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand ; Department of Parasitology and Community Health, Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
EXCLI J. 2014 Mar 20;13:287-99. eCollection 2014.
Plasmodium falciparum infection can abruptly progress to severe malaria and cerebral malaria. Despite the current efficiency of antimalarial drugs in killing parasites, no specific effective treatment has been found for cerebral malaria. Thus, a new strategy targeting both parasite elimination and endothelial cell protection is urgently needed in this field. In this study, we determined whether curcumin, which has blood-brain permeability, antioxidative activity and/or immunomodulation property, provided a potential effect on both parasite elimination and endothelial protection. Murine brain microvascular endothelial cells (bEnd.3; ATCC) were cocultured with Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells (Pf-IRBC), peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and platelets. Apoptosis of endothelial cells was demonstrated by annexin V staining. Interestingly, curcumin exhibited high efficiency of antimalarial activity (IC50 ~10 µM) and decreased bEnd.3 apoptosis down to 60.0 % and 79.6 % upon pre-treatment and co-treatment, respectively, with Pf-IRBC, platelets and PBMC. Our findings open up a high feasibility of applying curcumin as a potential adjunctive compound for cerebral malaria treatment in the future.
恶性疟原虫感染可突然进展为重症疟疾和脑型疟疾。尽管目前抗疟药物在杀灭寄生虫方面效率很高，但尚未发现针对脑型疟疾的特异性有效治疗方法。因此，该领域迫切需要一种既能消除寄生虫又能保护内皮细胞的新策略。在本研究中，我们确定了具有血脑通透性、抗氧化活性和/或免疫调节特性的姜黄素是否对消除寄生虫和内皮保护均有潜在作用。将小鼠脑微血管内皮细胞（bEnd.3；美国典型培养物保藏中心）与感染恶性疟原虫的红细胞（Pf-IRBC）、外周血单核细胞（PBMC）和血小板共培养。通过膜联蛋白V染色证明内皮细胞凋亡。有趣的是，姜黄素表现出高效的抗疟活性（IC50约为10μM），在与Pf-IRBC、血小板和PBMC预处理和联合处理后，bEnd.3细胞凋亡分别降至60.0%和79.6%。我们的研究结果为未来将姜黄素作为脑型疟疾治疗的潜在辅助化合物应用开辟了高度可行性。
