Concurrent infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus modulates murine host response against Plasmodium berghei ANKA...

We investigated whether concurrent infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus, an intestinal nematode, modulated anti-malaria parasite immunity and development of experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) in mice. The C57BL/6 mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA showed typical symptoms of ECM. Interestingly, preceding H. polygyrus infection did not alter ECM development, despite accelerated P. berghei growth in vivo. Our observation provides a new insight that ECM can be induced in a fashion independent of the immune responses affected by concurrent H. polygyrus. Differentiation between protective immunity and infection-associated host-damaging inflammatory response is urgently required for understanding the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria.