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Cytoadherence of knobby and knobless Plasmodium falciparum -infected erythrocytes

1991; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 102; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s003118200006426x

1469-8161

Wipaporn Ruangjirachuporn, B.A. Afzelius, Staffan Paulie, Mats Wahlgren, Kathryn Berzins, Peter Perlmann,

Complement system in diseases

Cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum -infected erythrocytes to melanoma cells was analysed using strains or isolates of parasites expressing or not expressing knobs (K + or K − phenotype) on the erythrocyte surface. Both K + and K − parasites had the capacity to cytoadhere to melanoma cells. Using a panel of melanoma cell lines with different surface expression of the cytoadherence receptors CD36, thrombospondin and ICAM-1 indicated that CD36 was the major receptor for parasites of both K + and K − phenotypes. Binding competition experiments between K + and K − -infected erythrocytes suggested that K + cytoadherence is of higher affinity than that of K − parasites. However, some K − cytoadherence was also found in isolates containing mixed populations of K + and K − parasites. The interaction of the two types of infected erythrocytes with melanoma cells also differed ultrastructurally, erythrocytes of K + phenotype showing intimate interdigitations with microvilli on the melanoma cells, while erythrocytes of K − phenotype displayed more separated interactions with fewer sites of contact and involving only a few melanoma cell microvilli. One and the same infected erythrocyte may co-express the ligand for CD36-mediated cytoadherence and the structures mediating binding of uninfected erythrocytes to form rosettes.