Purva Gupta1, Rajni Sharma2, Jagdish Chandra2, Virender Kumar2, Ruchi Singh3, Veena Pande4, Vineeta Singh5. 1. National Institute of Malaria Research (ICMR), Sector-8, Dwarka, New Delhi 110077, India. 2. Department of Pediatrics, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital, New Delhi 110001, India. 3. National Institute of Pathology (ICMR), Safdarjung Hospital Campus, New Delhi 110029, India. 4. Department of Biotechnology, Kumaun University, Nainital 263001, Uttarakhand, India. 5. National Institute of Malaria Research (ICMR), Sector-8, Dwarka, New Delhi 110077, India. Electronic address: vineetas_2000@yahoo.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Plasmodium vivax once considered benign is now being increasingly associated with complicated malaria where the spectrum of complications is vast and like Plasmodium falciparum. The clinical data is important with respect to the immunopathological status of the patient. Several genes like the vir genes and pvcrt-o are speculated to be attributing to the severity of P. vivax malaria. METHODS: In the present study we carried out the transcription analysis of five vir genes (vir 14-related, vir 12, vir 17-like, putative vir 14 and vir 10-related) and pvcrt-o gene in severe (n=12) and non-severe (n=7) P. vivax clinical infections and studied the correlation of these genes with clinical disease severity. RESULTS: This study revealed multiorgan involvement in severe vivax cases with severe thrombocytopenia and anemia, the predominantly occurring symptoms. Four out of five vir genes and pvcrt-o showed a significant increase in expression levels of severe infections compared to the non-severe infections indicating their possible role in the changing pathogenesis of P. vivax. CONCLUSIONS: The increased virulence in vivax malaria seems to be the result of multifactorial parameters changing it phenotypically as well as genotypically. However more studies are needed to understand the still nascent severity of P. vivax malaria.
BACKGROUND:Plasmodium vivax once considered benign is now being increasingly associated with complicated malaria where the spectrum of complications is vast and like Plasmodium falciparum. The clinical data is important with respect to the immunopathological status of the patient. Several genes like the vir genes and pvcrt-o are speculated to be attributing to the severity of P. vivaxmalaria. METHODS: In the present study we carried out the transcription analysis of five vir genes (vir 14-related, vir 12, vir 17-like, putative vir 14 and vir 10-related) and pvcrt-o gene in severe (n=12) and non-severe (n=7) P. vivax clinical infections and studied the correlation of these genes with clinical disease severity. RESULTS: This study revealed multiorgan involvement in severe vivax cases with severe thrombocytopenia and anemia, the predominantly occurring symptoms. Four out of five vir genes and pvcrt-o showed a significant increase in expression levels of severe infections compared to the non-severe infections indicating their possible role in the changing pathogenesis of P. vivax. CONCLUSIONS: The increased virulence in vivax malaria seems to be the result of multifactorial parameters changing it phenotypically as well as genotypically. However more studies are needed to understand the still nascent severity of P. vivaxmalaria.