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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 76(6), 2007, pp. 1033-1036
Copyright © 2007 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


HIGHER PRODUCTION OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD MACROPHAGE MIGRATION INHIBITORY FACTOR IN HEALTHY CHILDREN WITH A HISTORY OF MILD MALARIA RELATIVE TO CHILDREN WITH A HISTORY OF SEVERE MALARIA

GORDON A. AWANDARE, PETER G. KREMSNER, JAMES B. HITTNER, CHRISTOPHER C. KELLER, IAN A. CLARK, J. BRICE WEINBERG, AND DOUGLAS J. PERKINS*
Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Lambarènè, Gabon; Department of Parasitology, Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen,Germany; Department of Psychology, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina; Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, Pennsylvania; Department of Medicine, VA and Duke University Medical Centers, Durham, North Carolina; School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

 

ABSTRACT

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The host immune response to P. falciparum is a critical determinant of malarial pathogenesis and disease outcomes. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a central regulator of innate immune responses to bacterial and parasitic infections. Our recent investigations demonstrated that peripheral blood MIF production was suppressed in children with severe malaria. Because examination of MIF production in children with active disease does not account for the inherent ability of the host to generate MIF, basal circulating MIF and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) MIF transcript levels were determined in healthy children with a history of either mild or severe malaria. Children with prior mild malaria had higher plasma MIF levels and PBMC MIF transcripts than children with an identical number of previous episodes of severe malaria. These results suggest that increased basal MIF production may be important in generating immune responses that protect against the development of severe malaria.

Received October 10, 2006. Accepted for publication February 17, 2007.

Acknowledgments: Part of this work was presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH Abstract no. 775) in Miami Beach, FL (November 7–11, 2004). We thank the following staff members of Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné Gabon for technical assistance: Dr. Anita van den Biggerlaar, Judith Jans, Dr. Hanna Knoop, Dr. Doris Luckner, Barbara Moritz, Anselme Ndzengue, Marcel Nkeyi, Dr. Daniela Schmid, and Dr. Milena Sovric. The study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh,

Financial support: This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants AI-51305-01 to Douglas Jay Perkins and AI-41764 to J. Brice Weinberg, the VA Research Service (J. Brice Weinberg) and Fogarty International Training Grant 5D43-TW00588-4 to Douglas Jay Perkins.

Disclosure: There is no conflict of interest for any of the authors of the manuscript due to either commercial or other affiliations.

* Address correspondence to Douglas Jay Perkins, Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto Street, 603 Parran Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. E-mail: djp{at}pitt.edu

Authors’ addresses: Gordon A. Awandare and Douglas Jay Perkins, Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, Telephone: 412-624-5915 and 412-624-5894, Fax: 412-624-5364, E-mail: djp{at}pitt.edu. Peter G. Kremsner, Department of Parasitology, Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, Telephone: 49-7071-298-7179, Fax: 49-7071- 295-189. James B. Hittner, Department of Psychology, College of Charleston 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424, Telephone: 843-953-6734, Fax: 843-953-7151. Christopher C. Keller, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, 1858 West Grandview Boulevard, Erie, PA 16509, Telephone: 814-866-8417. Ian A. Clark, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia, Telephone: 61-2-6125-4363, Fax: 61-2-6125-0313. J. Brice Weinberg, Hematology-Oncology, VA and Duke University Medical Centers, 508 Fulton Street, Room E1006, Durham, NC 27705, Telephone: 919-286-6833, Fax: 919-286-6891.






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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.