Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Trends Parasitol. 2022 Apr;38(4):302-315. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.12.005. Epub 2022 Jan 4.
A critical step in malaria blood-stage infections is the invasion of red blood cells (RBCs) by merozoite forms of the Plasmodium parasite. Much progress has been made in defining the parasite ligands and host receptors that mediate this critical step. However, less well understood are the RBC biophysical determinants that influence parasite invasion. In this review we explore how Plasmodium falciparum merozoites interact with the RBC membrane during invasion to modulate RBC deformability and facilitate invasion. We further highlight RBC biomechanics-related polymorphisms that might have been selected for in human populations due to their ability to reduce parasite invasion. Such an understanding will reveal the translational potential of targeting host pathways affecting RBC biomechanical properties for the treatment of malaria.
疟原虫红内期感染的一个关键步骤是裂殖子形式的疟原虫入侵红细胞（RBC）。在确定介导这一关键步骤的寄生虫配体和宿主受体方面已经取得了很大进展。然而，对于影响寄生虫入侵的 RBC 生物物理决定因素，人们的了解还较少。在这篇综述中，我们探讨了恶性疟原虫裂殖子在入侵过程中如何与 RBC 膜相互作用，以调节 RBC 的变形性并促进入侵。我们还进一步强调了与 RBC 生物力学相关的多态性，由于它们能够降低寄生虫的入侵，这些多态性可能在人类群体中被选择。这种理解将揭示针对影响 RBC 生物力学特性的宿主途径的治疗疟疾的转化潜力。
