Lipid response patterns in acute phase paediatric Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Several studies have observed serum lipid changes during malaria infection in humans. All of them were focused at analysis of lipoproteins, not specific lipid molecules. The aim of our study was to identify novel patterns of lipid species in malaria infected patients using lipidomics profiling, to enhance diagnosis of malaria and to evaluate biochemical pathways activated during parasite infection.

Using a multivariate characterization approach, 60 samples were representatively selected, 20 from each category (mild, severe and controls) of the 690 study participants between age of 0.5-6 years. Lipids from patient's plasma were extracted with chloroform/methanol mixture and subjected to lipid profiling with application of the LCMS-QTOF method.

We observed a structured plasma lipid response among the malaria-infected patients as compared to healthy controls, demonstrated by higher levels of a majority of plasma lipids with the exception of even-chain length lysophosphatidylcholines and triglycerides with lower mass and higher saturation of the fatty acid chains. An inverse lipid profile relationship was observed when plasma lipids were correlated to parasitaemia.

This study demonstrates how mapping the full physiological lipid response in plasma from malaria-infected individuals can be used to understand biochemical processes during infection. It also gives insights to how the levels of these molecules relate to acute immune responses.