Adipose tissue parasite sequestration drives leptin production in mice and correlates with human cerebral malaria
Document Type
Article
Department
Paediatrics and Child Health (East Africa)
Abstract
Circulating levels of the adipokine leptin are linked to neuropathology in experimental cerebral malaria (ECM), but its source and regulation mechanism remain unknown. Here, we show that sequestration of infected red blood cells (iRBCs) in white adipose tissue (WAT) microvasculature increased local vascular permeability and leptin production. Mice infected with parasite strains that fail to sequester in WAT displayed reduced leptin production and protection from ECM. WAT sequestration and leptin induction were lost in CD36KO mice; however, ECM susceptibility revealed sexual dimorphism. Adipocyte leptin was regulated by the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and blocked by rapamycin. In humans, although Plasmodium falciparum infection did not increase circulating leptin levels, iRBCs sequestration, tissue leptin production, and mTORC1 activity were positively correlated with CM in pediatric postmortem WAT. These data identify WAT sequestration as a trigger for leptin production with potential implications for pathogenesis of malaria infection, prognosis, and treatment.
Publication (Name of Journal)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Recommended Citation
Mejia, P.,
Treviño-Villarreal, H.,
Niz, M. D.,
Meibalan, E.,
Longchamp, A.,
Reynolds, J.,
Turnbull, L.,
Opoka, R.,
Roussilhon, C.,
Spielmann, T.
(2021). Adipose tissue parasite sequestration drives leptin production in mice and correlates with human cerebral malaria. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 7(13).
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_paediatr_child_health/314
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.