On cytoadhesion of Plasmodium vivax: raison d'être?

• Autor(a) principal: Costa,Fabio TM
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Lopes,Stefanie CP, Ferrer,Mireia, Leite,Juliana A, Martin-Jaular,Lorena, Bernabeu,Maria, Nogueira,Paulo A, Mourão,Maria Paula G, Fernandez-Becerra,Carmen, Lacerda,Marcus VG, Portillo,Hernando del
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
• Texto Completo: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762011000900010
• topic: Plasmodium vivax; malaria; cytoadherence; severe disease

It is generally accepted that Plasmodium vivax, the most widely distributed human malaria parasite, causes mild disease and that this species does not sequester in the deep capillaries of internal organs. Recent evidence, however, has demonstrated that there is severe disease, sometimes resulting in death, exclusively associated with P. vivax and that P. vivax-infected reticulocytes are able to cytoadhere in vitro to different endothelial cells and placental cryosections. Here, we review the scarce and preliminary data on cytoadherence in P. vivax, reinforcing the importance of this phenomenon in this species and highlighting the avenues that it opens for our understanding of the pathology of this neglected human malaria parasite.