Comparative proteomic and RNA-seq analyses identify glypican-3 as a hepatocyte host cell receptor for Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite invasion

Understanding the liver stage invasion and development of Plasmodium falciparum parasites is difficult due to limitations in current methodologies, namely, a hepatocyte cell line that supports the invasion of sporozoites. In this work we seek to develop and characterize a subclone of the HC-04 cell line that supports higher invasion rates than the parental line. We make use of both RNA-seq and LC-MS/MS proteomics to characterize cells grown in two different mediums. Finally, we identify and validate a surface protein, glypican-3, which is deferentially expressed between parental and subclone cell lines, when compared to HepG2 cells, and demonstrate that antibodies against glypican-3 decrease parasite invasion.