Complete development of the liver stage of Plasmodium falciparum in a human hepatoma cell line

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1995 Dec;53(6):607-11. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1995.53.607.

Abstract

Plasmodium falciparum parasites develop in the liver before being released into the bloodstream, where they exert the potentially lethal effects characteristic of malaria. Our understanding of the hepatic phase of the life cycle is limited by the parasite's requirement for fresh human liver cells in which to mature. In this work, liver parasites completed their development within a Thai human hepatoma cell line (HHS-102), and the presence of ring-form parasites in erythrocytes overlying the liver cell culture confirmed that an entire liver cycle was completed, culminating in the production of viable blood-stage parasites. The HHS-102 cell line allows investigation of the undefined liver stage of falciparum malaria previously unavailable in the laboratory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / immunology
  • Antigens, Protozoan / analysis
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / parasitology*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / pathology
  • Cell Line
  • Erythrocytes / parasitology
  • Erythrocytes / pathology
  • Humans
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Liver / parasitology*
  • Liver Neoplasms / parasitology*
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology
  • Plasmodium falciparum / growth & development*
  • Plasmodium falciparum / immunology
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • Antigens, Protozoan