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Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria

Forces and mechanical properties of cells and tissues set constraints on biological functions, and are key determinants of human physiology. Changes in cell mechanics may arise from disease, or directly contribute to pathogenesis. Malaria gives many striking examples. Plasmodium parasites, the causa...

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Autores principales: Introini, Viola, Govendir, Matt A., Rayner, Julian C., Cicuta, Pietro, Bernabeu, Maria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9192966/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35711656
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.908241
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author Introini, Viola
Govendir, Matt A.
Rayner, Julian C.
Cicuta, Pietro
Bernabeu, Maria
author_facet Introini, Viola
Govendir, Matt A.
Rayner, Julian C.
Cicuta, Pietro
Bernabeu, Maria
author_sort Introini, Viola
collection PubMed
description Forces and mechanical properties of cells and tissues set constraints on biological functions, and are key determinants of human physiology. Changes in cell mechanics may arise from disease, or directly contribute to pathogenesis. Malaria gives many striking examples. Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, are single-celled organisms that cannot survive outside their hosts; thus, thost-pathogen interactions are fundamental for parasite’s biological success and to the host response to infection. These interactions are often combinations of biochemical and mechanical factors, but most research focuses on the molecular side. However, Plasmodium infection of human red blood cells leads to changes in their mechanical properties, which has a crucial impact on disease pathogenesis because of the interaction of infected red blood cells with other human tissues through various adhesion mechanisms, which can be probed and modelled with biophysical techniques. Recently, natural polymorphisms affecting red blood cell biomechanics have also been shown to protect human populations, highlighting the potential of understanding biomechanical factors to inform future vaccines and drug development. Here we review biophysical techniques that have revealed new aspects of Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells and cytoadhesion of infected cells to the host vasculature. These mechanisms occur differently across Plasmodium species and are linked to malaria pathogenesis. We highlight promising techniques from the fields of bioengineering, immunomechanics, and soft matter physics that could be beneficial for studying malaria. Some approaches might also be applied to other phases of the malaria lifecycle and to apicomplexan infections with complex host-pathogen interactions.
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spelling pubmed-91929662022-06-15 Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria Introini, Viola Govendir, Matt A. Rayner, Julian C. Cicuta, Pietro Bernabeu, Maria Front Cell Infect Microbiol Cellular and Infection Microbiology Forces and mechanical properties of cells and tissues set constraints on biological functions, and are key determinants of human physiology. Changes in cell mechanics may arise from disease, or directly contribute to pathogenesis. Malaria gives many striking examples. Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, are single-celled organisms that cannot survive outside their hosts; thus, thost-pathogen interactions are fundamental for parasite’s biological success and to the host response to infection. These interactions are often combinations of biochemical and mechanical factors, but most research focuses on the molecular side. However, Plasmodium infection of human red blood cells leads to changes in their mechanical properties, which has a crucial impact on disease pathogenesis because of the interaction of infected red blood cells with other human tissues through various adhesion mechanisms, which can be probed and modelled with biophysical techniques. Recently, natural polymorphisms affecting red blood cell biomechanics have also been shown to protect human populations, highlighting the potential of understanding biomechanical factors to inform future vaccines and drug development. Here we review biophysical techniques that have revealed new aspects of Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells and cytoadhesion of infected cells to the host vasculature. These mechanisms occur differently across Plasmodium species and are linked to malaria pathogenesis. We highlight promising techniques from the fields of bioengineering, immunomechanics, and soft matter physics that could be beneficial for studying malaria. Some approaches might also be applied to other phases of the malaria lifecycle and to apicomplexan infections with complex host-pathogen interactions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9192966/ /pubmed/35711656 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.908241 Text en Copyright © 2022 Introini, Govendir, Rayner, Cicuta and Bernabeu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Introini, Viola
Govendir, Matt A.
Rayner, Julian C.
Cicuta, Pietro
Bernabeu, Maria
Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title_full Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title_fullStr Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title_full_unstemmed Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title_short Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria
title_sort biophysical tools and concepts enable understanding of asexual blood stage malaria
topic Cellular and Infection Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9192966/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35711656
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.908241
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