Abstract
BackgroundMalaria continues to be a great public health concern due to the significant mortality and morbidity associated with the disease especially in developing countries. Microparticles (MPs), also called plasma membrane derived extracellular vesicles (PMEVs) are subcellular structures that are generated when they bud off the plasma membrane. They can be found in healthy individuals but the numbers tend to increase in pathological conditions including malaria. Although, various studies have been carried out on the protein content of specific cellular derived MPs, there seems to be paucity of information on the protein content of circulating MPs in malaria and their association with the various signs and symptoms of the disease. The aim of this study was therefore to carry out proteomic analyses of MPs isolated from malaria positive samples and compare them with proteins of MPs from malaria parasite culture supernatant and healthy controls in order to ascertain the role of MPs in malaria infection.MethodsPlasma samples were obtained from forty-three (43) malaria diagnosed patients (cases) and ten (10) healthy individuals (controls). Malaria parasite culture supernatant was obtained from our laboratory and MPs were isolated from them and confirmed using flow cytometry. 2D LC-MS was done to obtain their protein content. Resultant data were analyzed using SPSS Ver. 21.0 statistical software, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman’s correlation coefficient r.ResultsIn all, 1806 proteins were isolated from the samples. The MPs from malaria positive samples recorded 1729 proteins, those from culture supernatant were 333 while the control samples recorded 234 proteins. The mean number of proteins in MPs of malaria positive samples was significantly higher than that in the control samples. Significantly, higher quantities of haemoglobin subunits were seen in MPs from malaria samples and culture supernatant compared to control samples.ConclusionA great number of proteins were observed to be carried in the microparticles (MPs) from malaria samples and culture supernatant compared to controls. The greater loss of haemoglobin from erythrocytes via MPs from malaria patients could serve as the initiation and progression of anaemia in P.falciparum infection. Also while some proteins were upregulated in circulating MPs in malaria samples, others were down regulated.
Highlights
Malaria continues to be a great public health concern due to the significant mortality and morbidity associated with the disease especially in developing countries
Microparticles (MPs) called plasma membrane derived extracellular vesicles (PMEVs) are a heterogeneous group of small sub-membrane fragments or membrane coated vesicles shed from the plasma membrane of various cells during normal cellular activities like growth, senescence, proliferation and apoptosis [1]
Our study has clearly established that there is an up regulation of protein content of circulating plasma MPs from malaria patients than in healthy controls
Summary
Malaria continues to be a great public health concern due to the significant mortality and morbidity associated with the disease especially in developing countries. Microparticles (MPs), called plasma membrane derived extracellular vesicles (PMEVs) are subcellular structures that are generated when they bud off the plasma membrane. They can be found in healthy individuals but the numbers tend to increase in pathological conditions including malaria. The disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in many developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated 3.4 billion people worldwide risk being infected with malaria in 104 countries [3]. Up-regulation of certain cytokines is thought to relate to malaria associated high fever [4]
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