Otun Oluwatobi, Achilonu Ikechukwu
Protein Structure-Function Unit, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mol Biol Rep. 2025 Feb 5;52(1):208. doi: 10.1007/s11033-025-10318-4.
Malaria continues to pose a serious global health threat, with rising drug resistance making treatment more difficult. Consequently, Plasmodium yoelii, a rodent malaria parasite, has become an invaluable model for studying the malaria parasite's complex biology, particularly host-parasite interactions and drug resistance mechanisms. Originating from African rodents, P. yoelii presents unique genetic diversity, mirroring critical aspects of human malaria and allowing for detailed research on the parasite's pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic stages. This review introduces a novel perspective by comprehensively examining P. yoelii from multiple angles, including its origin, genetic composition, and contributions to vaccine development and drug efficacy studies. It highlights the significance of P. yoelii, revealing new insights into immune evasion, pathogenesis, and disease severity, which are critical for developing future malaria interventions. Furthermore, this review addresses the challenges associated with P. yoelii as a model, such as differences in host immune responses between rodents and humans. Despite these hurdles, the research using P. yoelii offers promising directions for combating malaria. This novel synthesis of P. yoelii studies underscores its essential role in advancing malaria research, particularly in understanding drug resistance and uncovering potential therapeutic and vaccine targets.
疟疾仍然对全球健康构成严重威胁，耐药性不断上升使治疗变得更加困难。因此，约氏疟原虫（一种啮齿动物疟原虫）已成为研究疟原虫复杂生物学，特别是宿主 - 寄生虫相互作用和耐药机制的宝贵模型。约氏疟原虫起源于非洲啮齿动物，具有独特的遗传多样性，反映了人类疟疾的关键方面，并允许对该寄生虫的红细胞前期和红细胞期进行详细研究。本综述通过从多个角度全面审视约氏疟原虫，包括其起源、遗传组成以及对疫苗开发和药物疗效研究的贡献，引入了一种新的视角。它强调了约氏疟原虫的重要性，揭示了对免疫逃避、发病机制和疾病严重程度的新见解，这些对于开发未来的疟疾干预措施至关重要。此外，本综述还讨论了将约氏疟原虫作为模型所面临的挑战，例如啮齿动物和人类宿主免疫反应的差异。尽管存在这些障碍，但使用约氏疟原虫的研究为抗击疟疾提供了有希望的方向。这种对约氏疟原虫研究的新颖综合强调了其在推进疟疾研究，特别是在理解耐药性和发现潜在治疗及疫苗靶点方面的重要作用。
