Schistosoma mansoni infection suppresses the growth of Plasmodium yoelii parasites in the liver and reduces gametocyte infectivity to mosquitoes

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Jan 26;12(1):e0006197. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006197. eCollection 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Malaria and schistosomiasis are major parasitic diseases causing morbidity and mortality in the tropics. Epidemiological surveys have revealed coinfection rates of up to 30% among children in Sub-Saharan Africa. To investigate the impact of coinfection of these two parasites on disease epidemiology and pathology, we carried out coinfection studies using Plasmodium yoelii and Schistosoma mansoni in mice. Malaria parasite growth in the liver following sporozoite inoculation is significantly inhibited in mice infected with S. mansoni, so that when low numbers of sporozoites are inoculated, there is a large reduction in the percentage of mice that go on to develop blood stage malaria. Furthermore, gametocyte infectivity is much reduced in mice with S. mansoni infections. These results have profound implications for understanding the interactions between Plasmodium and Schistosoma species, and have implications for the control of malaria in schistosome endemic areas.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Africa South of the Sahara
  • Animals
  • Coinfection / parasitology*
  • Culicidae / parasitology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Liver / parasitology*
  • Malaria / complications*
  • Malaria / parasitology
  • Mice
  • Microbial Interactions*
  • Plasmodium yoelii / growth & development*
  • Schistosoma mansoni / growth & development*
  • Schistosomiasis mansoni / complications*
  • Schistosomiasis mansoni / parasitology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)(http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/) of project numbers JP25870525, JP24255009 and JP16K21233 to RC, JP17H01684 and S2509 to SH; A Royal Society Bilateral Grant for Co-operative Research https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/) to RC; a Sasakawa Foundation Butterfield Award (http://www.gbsf.org.uk/butterfieldawards/) to RC; the Global Center of Excellence (GCOE) Program at Nagasaki University (http://www.tm.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/gcoe/) to SH. TM was supported by a PhD scholarship by the Leading Program, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.