| Grant number: | 13/20509-5 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| Start date: | March 01, 2014 |
| End date: | March 03, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites |
| Principal Investigator: | Fabio Trindade Maranhão Costa |
| Grantee: | Catarina Baeta da Luz Bourgard |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil |
| Associated research grant: | 12/16525-2 - Plasmodium vivax: pathogenesis and infectivity, AP.TEM |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 18/00613-6 - Plasmodium vivax: whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing data analysis, BE.EP.DR 16/11764-0 - Plasmodium vivax: whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing data analysis, BE.EP.DR |
Abstract Plasmodium vivax is responsible for more than 80 million cases per year worldwide, with strong social impact outside Africa, mainly in Asia and the Americas. Brazil accounts for 50-60% of all cases of malaria reported in the Americas, in which 85% of infections are caused by P. vivax, wherein are restricted almost exclusively to the Amazon region (99.8%). It was recently found that P. vivax infection could also progress to severe disease, pathologically similar to P. falciparum cases. These observations challenge the pre-established view that P. vivax parasite is a "benign". Indeed, we have shown that P. vivax-infected erythrocytes (Pv-iE) collected from infected patients are able to adhere to the placenta and to lung and brain endothelia. Also, we have recently observed a low frequency in peripheral circulating P. vivax schizonts harvested from infected patients and a high adhesive capacity of these forms; therefore indicating that these stage-forms could be sequestered into deep microvasculature. However, studies on P. vivax biology, by means of functional assays, remain constrained to endemic hospitals due to the inability of cultivating this parasite in vitro and during long periods. In this sense and in collaboration with the Foundation for Tropical Medicine, Heitor Vieira Dourado (FMT-HVD, Manaus-AM), we intend to elucidate the immunopathological and molecular mechanisms involved in P. vivax cytoadherence to endothelial cells, (i) by means of identification of novel endothelial receptors and parasite ligands involved in this process, and (ii) assessing the role of plasma mediators that may be involved in Pv-iE adhesion via endothelial modulation. | |
| News published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the scholarship: | |
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