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Experiments carried out in mice helped researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin and the University of Bristol in the UK find the cause behind organ failure in malaria patients.
Neutrophils, the most common white blood cells, identify and destroy harmful microorganisms that invade our bodies. They break down their own cell membrane and nucleus and release web-like structures called NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps).
Using a variant of the malaria parasite that affects mice, the scientists showed that these neutrophil "traps" (NETs) can cause organ damage in malaria patients. When the team infected mice that had been genetically modified so that they could no longer form NETs, they found that these mice also did not develop liver damage.
To show that the findings in mice as a model animal are relevant to humans, the scientists examined blood samples from patients in Gabon and Mozambique and confirmed the hypothesis that the amount of NETs in the blood rises sharply in cases of severe malaria.
Source: European Animal Research Association, February 2020, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
Translation: Let the Patients Live