Xuenan Xuan
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan
Title: Babesia microti confers macrophage-based cross-protective immunity against Plasmodium chabaudi infection in mice
Biography
Biography: Xuenan Xuan
Abstract
Climate change is expected to critically affect the geographic range and incidence of arthropod-borne infectious diseases, including malaria and babesiosis, which have been recently reported in human co-infection cases. Babesia microti infection has been shown to protect mice and primates against lethal Plasmodium infections; however the immune mechanism behind this cross-protection remains unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of primary B. microti infection on the outcome of a subsequent P. chabaudi challenge in BALB/c mice. Although simultaneous infection leads to high mortality, mice with various stages of B. microti infection were completely protected against P. chabaudi, exhibiting decreased levels of antibodies and proinflammatory cytokines. SCID and NK cell-depleted mice- but not macrophage-depleted mice were also protected, indicating that cross-protection relies upon the function of macrophages. Further research is necessary to obtain a better understanding of the malaria-suppressing effects of babesiosis, with a view toward developing novel tools to control malaria.