The search for molecular mimicry in proteins carried by extracellular vesicles secreted by cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum

ABSTRACT

Red blood cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum secrete extracellular vesicles in order to facilitate the survival and infection of human cells. Various researchers have studied the composition of these extracellular vesicles and identified the proteins contained inside. In this work, we used that information to detect potential P. falciparum molecules that could be imitating host proteins. We carried out several searches to detect sequences and structural similarities between the parasite and host. Additionally, the possibility of functional mimicry was explored in line with the potential role that each candidate can perform for the parasite inside the host. Lastly, we determined a set of eight sequences (mainly moonlighting proteins) with a remarkable resemblance to human proteins. Due to the resemblance observed, this study proposes the possibility that certain P. falciparum molecules carried by extracellular vesicles could be imitating human proteins to manipulate the host cell’s physiology.

KEYWORDS:

• Plasmodium falciparum
• molecular mimicry
• extracellular vesicles
• in-silico analysis
• structural resemblance
• moonlighting protein

Acknowledgments

We want to thank Yunierkis Pérez for his valuable advice regarding structural analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by intramural funds of Universidad de Las Américas (Ecuador), project BIO.VAJ.19.06..