Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Early and Late Stage -Infected Red Blood Cells Contain Invasion-Associated Proteins.

In infectious diseases, extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from a pathogen or pathogen-infected cells can transfer pathogen-derived biomolecules, especially proteins, to target cells and consequently regulate these target cells. For example, malaria is an important tropical infectious disease caused by spp. Previous studies have identified the roles of -infected red blood cell-derived EVs (-EVs) in the pathogenesis, activation, and modulation of host immune responses. This study investigated the proteomic profiles of -EVs isolated from four . strains. We also compared the proteomes of EVs from (i) different EV types (microvesicles and exosomes) and (ii) different parasite growth stages (early- and late-stage). The proteomic analyses revealed that the human proteins carried in the -EVs were specific to the type of -EVs. By contrast, most of the proteins carried in -EVs were common across all types of -EVs. As the proteomics results revealed that -EVs contained invasion-associated proteins, the effect of -EVs on parasite invasion was also investigated. Surprisingly, the attenuation of parasite invasion efficiency was found with the addition of -MVs. Moreover, this effect was markedly increased in culture-adapted isolates compared with laboratory reference strains. Our evidence supports the concept that -EVs play a role in quorum sensing, which leads to parasite growth-density regulation.