Plasmodium falciparum malaria, a lethal parasitic disease, has selected polymorphisms of the human genome modulating susceptibility to infection. In sub-Saharan Africa, Fulani subjects are more resistant to malaria than subjects of other ethnic groups, without being carriers of known polymorphisms of natural resistance, such as sickle cell trait or blood group O.
Our team follows 4 ethnic groups including Fulani, less affected by malaria but on the other hand more often anemic and carriers of splenomegaly than the subjects of the other groups.
Our last mission showed that the circulating red blood cells of Fulani are more deformable than those of non-Fulani, especially in the case of semi-recent infection with P. falciparum. This points towards a splenic hyper-reactivity of Fulani subjects to malaria infection explaining both the greater deformability of circulating red blood cells (by increased splenic retention of rigid red blood cells) and the association anemia-splenomegaly (by splenic congestion). . The heritability of this “hyper-deformability” of circulating red blood cells is very high, suggesting the existence of a new genetic factor of resistance to malaria. Our latest analyzes indicate that the mechano-sensitive channel Piezo-1 is linked to this particularity of Fulani subjects.
The objectives of this exploratory project centered on PIEZO1 are:
- To describe more precisely the polymorphisms of PIEZO1 linked to the phenotypes of erythrocyte deformability and protection against malaria
- To determine if PIEZO1 is expressed by spleen cells operating the filtration of red blood cells, as suggested by the variable splenic hyperreactivity between ethnic groups
Northern Partnership
- UMRs-1134 Integrated Biology of the Red Blood Cell
Southern Partnership
- IRCB Clinical Research Institute of Benin
Calendar
2021-2026
