Microbiota Control of Malaria Transmission
Miguel P Soares1, Bahtiyar Yilmaz2
1Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal.
Trends in Parasitology
|January 18, 2016
Summary
Human microbiota and their components can trigger protective antibody responses. These antibodies offer defense against pathogens, including malaria and potentially other vector-borne diseases.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Host-Microbe Interactions
Background:
- Multicellular organisms engage in stable, evolutionarily conserved mutualistic interactions with microbes, significantly impacting host physiology and fitness.
- Humans host a complex consortium of microorganisms, the microbiota, which engages in mutualistic relationships.
- Certain bacterial components within the human microbiota possess immunogenic glycans that can stimulate specific antibody responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of immunogenic glycans from the human microbiota in eliciting protective antibody responses.
- To explore the potential of these microbiota-induced antibodies in defending against pathogen infections.
- To hypothesize the broader applicability of this protective antibody mechanism against vector-borne diseases.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of immunogenic glycan expression by human microbiota components.
- Induction and characterization of glycan-specific antibody (Ab) responses.
- Assessment of antibody protection against pathogens expressing specific glycans, using Plasmodium as a model.
Main Results:
- Microbiota-derived glycans elicit specific antibody responses in humans.
- Circulating antibodies generated against microbiota glycans demonstrate protective effects against pathogens expressing those same glycans.
- Evidence from Plasmodium infections supports the protective role of these antibodies.
Conclusions:
- The human microbiota can induce protective, self-targeting antibodies.
- These antibodies provide a defense mechanism against infections by pathogens that share molecular structures with microbiota components.
- This mechanism likely contributes to host defense against a range of diseases, including vector-borne illnesses.
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