Malaria primes the innate immune response due to IFNg induced enhancement of Toll-like receptor expression and function.. Homo sapiens

Patients with febrile malaria were recruited in order to determine Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell (PBMC) gene expression during malaria. Blood was harvested from patients during the acute phase of the illness, and then patients were given a curative regimen of antimalarials. Three to four weeks after treatment, patients returned to the malaria clinic and blood was collected again, in order that each patient could serve as his or her own control. PBMC were isolated at the time of blood collection and forzen in RNA extraction buffer. At the end of the study, each patient was arrayed for ~47,000 transcripts, comparing gene expression at the end of therapy to that at the beginning. The goal was to determine which genes were altered as a result of disease at least 2 fold in a statistically significant manner and to assess if the genes involved could be related to Toll-like receptor signaling pathways. Approximately 60 genes involved in inflammation were confirmed by qPCR. Overall design: Gene expression profiles of blood cells from 14 individuals with malaria are compared to gene expression in blood cells from the same 14 individuals medicated and recovered from malaria symptoms (28 arrays in total).