Evaluation of Exosomal Proteins as Potential Biomarkers from RBC Stages of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7

Falciparum
malaria relies extensively on cell-to-cell communication,
and earlier research on the function of exosomal proteins derived
from infected red blood cells (iRBCs) has been classified into numerous
important roles. In this study, the exosomes were derived from Pf3D7-iRBCs cultured in vitro during synchronized trophozoite
stages. The isolated exosomes were assessed using NTA, FE-SEM, and
flow cytometry. Our study reported heterogeneous populations of exosomes
during the infection. Additionally, label-free quantification based
on LC/MS-MS for protein profiling revealed the presence of both parasitic
and host (RBC) proteins; out of a total of 124 proteins detected,
20 Pf3D7 proteins and 80 RBC proteins were identified.
Exosomal RBC protein expression is different in cRBCs-Exo and iRBCs-Exo,
which shows how the parasite and RBCs interact with each other. Functional
classification reported that the majority of these Pf3D7 proteins are uncharacterized with unknown functions, few of which
are involved in biological processes such as regulation of complement
activation, response to external stimuli, immune system-mediated signaling
pathway, protein processing, etc. Hence, studying these exosomal proteins
and comparing them to previous research has helped us understand how
exosomes help cells to communicate in malaria. It may also reveal
new potential biomarkers for diagnostic methods or therapies for malaria.