Erythrocyte membrane proteins involved in the immune response to Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infection

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 120; no. 5; pp. 1789 - 1797
• Main Authors: Castro-Salguedo, Cristian, Mendez-Cuadro, Darío, Moneriz, Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Ankyrins; Ankyrins - immunology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell membranes; Cytoskeletal Proteins; Erythrocyte Membrane - immunology; Erythrocytes; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Immune response; Immunology; Immunology and Host-Parasite Interactions - Original Paper; Infection; Infections; Malaria; Malaria, Falciparum - immunology; Malaria, Vivax - immunology; Male; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Medical Microbiology; Membrane proteins; Membrane Proteins - analysis; Membrane Proteins - immunology; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Plasmodium; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - immunology; Plasmodium vivax - immunology; Protein purification; Proteins; Spectrin; Structure-function relationships; Western blotting; Colombia; Immune response; Malaria; Erythrocytes; Membrane proteins; P. vivax; P. falciparum
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-021-07135-6

Invasion of Plasmodium into the red blood cell involves the interactions of a substantial number of proteins, with red cell membrane proteins as the most involved throughout the process from entry to exit. The objective of this work was to identify proteins of the human erythrocyte membrane capable of generating an antigenic response to P. falciparum and P. vivax infection, with the goal of searching for new molecular targets of interest with an immunological origin to prevent Plasmodium infection. To identify these proteins, an immunoproteomic technique was carried out in four stages: protein separation (electrophoresis), detection of antigenic proteins (western blotting), identification of proteins of interest (mass spectrometry), and interpretation of the data (bioinformatic analysis). Four proteins were identified from extracts of membrane proteins from erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum : Spectrin, Ankyrin-1, Band 3 and band 4.2, and a single protein was identified from erythrocytes infected with P. vivax : Band 3. These results demonstrate that modifications in the red blood cell membrane during infection with P. falciparum and P. vivax can generate an immune response, altering proteins of great structural and functional importance.