Browsing by Author "Bijker, Else M."

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    Transcriptomic evidence for modulation of host inflammatory responses during febrile Plasmodium falciparum malaria
    (SpringerNature, 2016-08-10) Tran, Tuan M.; Jones, Marcus B.; Ongoiba, Aissata; Bijker, Else M.; Schats, Remko; Venepally, Pratap; Skinner, Jeff; Doumbo, Safiatou; Quinten, Edwin; Visser, Leo G.; Whalen, Elizabeth; Presnell, Scott; O’Connell, Elise M.; Kayentao, Kassoum; Doumbo, Ogobara K.; Chaussabel, Damien; Lorenzi, Hernan; Nutman, Thomas B.; Ottenhoff, Tom H. M.; Haks, Mariëlle C.; Traore, Boubacar; Kirkness, Ewen F.; Sauerwein, Robert W.; Crompton, Peter D.; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Identifying molecular predictors and mechanisms of malaria disease is important for understanding how Plasmodium falciparum malaria is controlled. Transcriptomic studies in humans have so far been limited to retrospective analysis of blood samples from clinical cases. In this prospective, proof-of-principle study, we compared whole-blood RNA-seq profiles at pre-and post-infection time points from Malian adults who were either asymptomatic (n = 5) or febrile (n = 3) during their first seasonal PCR-positive P. falciparum infection with those from malaria-naïve Dutch adults after a single controlled human malaria infection (n = 5). Our data show a graded activation of pathways downstream of pro-inflammatory cytokines, with the highest activation in malaria-naïve Dutch individuals and significantly reduced activation in malaria-experienced Malians. Newly febrile and asymptomatic infections in Malians were statistically indistinguishable except for genes activated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. The combined data provide a molecular basis for the development of a pyrogenic threshold as individuals acquire immunity to clinical malaria.
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    Whole-blood transcriptomic signatures induced during immunization by chloroquine prophylaxis and Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites
    (Springer Nature, 2019-06-10) Tran, Tuan M.; Bijker, Else M.; Haks, Mariëlle C.; Ottenhoff, Tom H. M.; Visser, Leo; Schats, Remko; Venepally, Pratap; Lorenzi, Hernan; Crompton, Peter D.; Sauerwein, Robert W.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    A highly effective vaccine that confers sterile protection to malaria is urgently needed. Immunization under chemoprophylaxis with sporozoites (CPS) consistently confers high levels of protection in the Controlled Human Malaria infection (CHMI) model. To provide a broad, unbiased assessment of the composition and kinetics of direct ex vivo human immune responses to CPS, we profiled whole-blood transcriptomes by RNA-seq before and during CPS immunization and following CHMI challenge. Differential expression of genes enriched in modules related to T cells, NK cells, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial processes were detected in fully protected individuals four weeks after the first immunization. Non-protected individuals demonstrated transcriptomic changes after the third immunization and the day of treatment, with upregulation of interferon and innate inflammatory genes and downregulation of B-cell signatures. Protected individuals demonstrated more significant interactions between blood transcription modules compared to non-protected individuals several weeks after the second and third immunizations. These data provide insight into the molecular and cellular basis of CPS-induced immune protection from P. falciparum infection.