1. Heme on Pulmonary Malaria: Friend or Foe?
- Author
-
Pádua TA and Souza MC
- Subjects
- Acute Lung Injury metabolism, Acute Lung Injury pathology, Animals, Acute Lung Injury parasitology, Heme metabolism, Hemolysis physiology, Malaria metabolism, Malaria pathology
- Abstract
Malaria is a hemolytic disease that, in severe cases, can compromise multiple organs. Pulmonary distress is a common symptom observed in severe malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium falciparum . However, biological components involved in the development of lung malaria are poorly studied. In experimental models of pulmonary malaria, it was observed that parasitized red blood cell-congested pulmonary capillaries are related to intra-alveolar hemorrhages and inflammatory cell infiltration. Thus, it is very likely that hemolysis participates in malaria-induced acute lung injury. During malaria, heme assumes different biochemical structures such as hemin and hemozoin (biocrystallized structure of heme inside Plasmodium sp.). Each heme-derived structure triggers a different biological effect: on the one hand, hemozoin found in lung tissue is responsible for the infiltration of inflammatory cells and consequent tissue injury; on the other hand, heme stimulates heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and CO production, which protect mice from severe malaria. In this review, we discuss the biological mechanism involved in the dual role of heme response in experimental malaria-induced acute lung injury., (Copyright © 2020 Pádua and Souza.)
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF