Malaria parasite lipid metabolism regulates host-parasite interactions

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
F31AI191660
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$46,528

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research
Completion date 0% complete
Place of performance
Newark, NJ 07107, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
Millions of malaria infections debilitate communities every year, with the highest fatality rates occurring in children under the age of five and pregnant women. Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, have many complicated host immune evasion tactics that remain poorly understood and contribute to the difficulties in treating this disease. At the asexual replication stage of its life cycle, the parasite is known to regulate the plasma membrane of its host erythrocyte to prevent a loss of membrane asymmetry, which would reveal apoptosis signals and prompt phagocytic clearance that would initiate a host immune response. Despite the clinical importance of these immune evasion tactics employed by the parasite, the underlying mechanisms by which they occur remain unknown. The long-term goal of our research is to understand how the parasite regulates its host erythrocyte plasma membrane and target these pathways with the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Previous studies have identified that the parasite is capable of transporting phospholipids to the erythrocyte plasma membrane. Our preliminary data has suggested that in parasites lacking the apicoplast organelle, the site of fatty acid synthesis mechanisms, there is altered regulation of phospholipids at the erythrocyte plasma membrane and an increase in phagocytic clearance of these infected cells by macrophages. This provides the basis for our hypothesis that lipid metabolism driven by the apicoplast is essential for the immune evasion tactics employed at the erythrocyte plasma membrane. The goal of the proposed studies is to identify the pathway via which the apicoplast contributes to phospholipid maintenance of the erythrocyte plasma membrane and the extent to which the apicoplast contributes to immune evasion of host surveillance. Two specific aims are proposed to demonstrate that 1) apicoplast fatty acid and lipid metabolism contribute to the regulation of erythrocyte membrane phospholipids, and 2) demonstrate the dependence of host immune cells on recognizing the loss of membrane asymmetry to clear infected erythrocytes. Successful completion of the proposed aims will provide new insight into the metabolic role of the apicoplast organelle and its contribution to parasite-host interactions. Further, these studies will test the suitability of the apicoplast as a desirable drug target and assess the underlying mechanisms of how IT contributes to immune evasion tactics.

Quick answers

Who received award F31AI191660?

F31AI191660 was awarded to Rutgers The State University Of New Jersey by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (National Institutes of Health) on February 21, 2027.

How much is award F31AI191660 worth?

$46,528 has been obligated on F31AI191660.

On GovTribe

See this award's full record

  • Every transaction and subaward
  • The recipient's other awards and teaming partners
  • Similar grant awards
  • Ask GovTribe AI about this award
Try for free Login