Exposure to host inflammation in vivo induces rapid transcriptomic change and impaired maturation in malaria parasites

Abstract

Abstract We previously reported slowing of the Plasmodium life-cycle in acutely-infected wild-type but not immune-deficient mice, suggesting a role for host responses in mediating this effect. Here, we hypothesized that parasites sense and rapidly adapt to host inflammation in vivo. We tested this in mice using a combination of immunological, metabolomic and parasite single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) approaches. Firstly, systemic treatment with LPS, but not CpG or Poly I:C, impaired in vivo maturation of parasites, the magnitude of which correlated with plasma TNF/IFNγ levels. This supported our idea that a systemic inflammatory response alone could impair malaria parasit..