Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 13;14(1):6465. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42235-0.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium species and remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Gut bacteria can influence the severity of malaria, but the contribution of specific bacteria to the risk of severe malaria is unknown. Here, multiomics approaches demonstrate that specific species of Bacteroides are causally linked to the risk of severe malaria. Plasmodium yoelii hyperparasitemia-resistant mice gavaged with murine-isolated Bacteroides fragilis develop P. yoelii hyperparasitemia. Moreover, Bacteroides are significantly more abundant in Ugandan children with severe malarial anemia than with asymptomatic P. falciparum infection. Human isolates of Bacteroides caccae, Bacteroides uniformis, and Bacteroides ovatus were able to cause susceptibility to severe malaria in mice. While monocolonization of germ-free mice with Bacteroides alone is insufficient to cause susceptibility to hyperparasitemia, meta-analysis across multiple studies support a main role for Bacteroides in susceptibility to severe malaria. Approaches that target gut Bacteroides present an opportunity to prevent severe malaria and associated deaths.
疟疾由疟原虫引起，仍然是全球发病率和死亡率的重要原因。肠道细菌会影响疟疾的严重程度，但特定细菌对严重疟疾风险的贡献尚不清楚。本研究采用多组学方法证实，特定的拟杆菌物种与严重疟疾的风险有关。用分离自鼠类的脆弱拟杆菌灌胃的抗约氏疟原虫高寄生虫血症的小鼠会发展成约氏疟原虫高寄生虫血症。此外，在乌干达患有严重疟疾性贫血的儿童中，拟杆菌的丰度显著高于无症状的恶性疟原虫感染。人类分离的卵形拟杆菌、普通拟杆菌和多形拟杆菌能够使小鼠易患严重疟疾。虽然无菌小鼠单独定植拟杆菌不足以导致高寄生虫血症易感性，但多项研究的荟萃分析支持拟杆菌在易患严重疟疾方面起主要作用。针对肠道拟杆菌的方法为预防严重疟疾和相关死亡提供了机会。
