This blog originated as a press release from ISGlobal, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Thanks to ISGlobal for permission to post it here.
A new study shows that extracellular vesicles from the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax promote parasite adhesion to spleen cells
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a role in the pathogenesis of malaria vivax, according to a study led by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, and the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP). The findings, published in Nature Communications, indicate that EVs from P. vivax patients communicate with spleen fibroblasts promoting the adhesion of parasite-infected red blood cells. These data provide important insights into the pathology of vivax malaria. The study was carried out at the Can Ruti Campus, with the participation of the IGTP Genomics platform, the Nephrology service of the Germans Trias i Pujos Hospital, and researchers from the Irsicaixa AIDS Research Institute.