Wanted Plasmodium falciparum, dead or alive.

Fatimata Sow,Anne-Lise Bienvenu,Mary Nyonda,Stephane Picot

doi:10.15698/mic2015.07.211

Abstract

Mechanisms of cell death in unicellular parasites have been subjects of debate for the last decade, with studies demonstrating evidence of apoptosis or non-apoptosis like mechanisms, including necrosis, and autophagy. Recent clarifications on the definition of regulated or accidental cell death by The Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death provides an opportunity to reanalyze some data, re-evaluate conclusions in the light of parasite diversity, and to propose alternative arguments in the context of malaria drug resistance, considering lack of really new drugs in the pipeline. Deciphering the mechanisms of death may help in detection of new drug targets and the design of innovative drugs. However, classifications have been evolving rapidly since initial description of “programmed cell death”, leading to some uncertainty as to whether Plasmodium cell death is accidental or regulated.

Highlights

Eugene Blank wrote years ago to the Lancet a few words from “The rape of Lucrece” where Shakespeare anticipated the existence of apoptosis [1]:...showing life’s triumph in the map of death, And death’s dim look in life mortality...But the drama of malaria is far from literature and requires more attention to the mechanisms of parasite death
Interest in P. vivax is mounting due to several factors, first, it plays a role in severe malaria, second, it develops drug resistance, and third, it has persistent dormant liver forms placing it as a public health problem today and tomorrow [3]
regulated cell death (RCD) is based on the activity of complex molecular machinery, giving time to a competitive interplay between mechanisms involved in survival and those involved in Plasmodium cell death death processes

Summary

Introduction

Eugene Blank wrote years ago to the Lancet a few words from “The rape of Lucrece” where Shakespeare anticipated the existence of apoptosis [1]:...showing life’s triumph in the map of death, And death’s dim look in life mortality...But the drama of malaria is far from literature and requires more attention to the mechanisms of parasite death. ABSTRACT Mechanisms of cell death in unicellular parasites have been subjects of debate for the last decade, with studies demonstrating evidence of apoptosis or non-apoptosis like mechanisms, including necrosis, and autophagy. In 1997, we described the apoptosis-like DNA fragmentation of P. falciparum parasite in response to chloroquine (CQ) [8].

Results

Conclusion