Role of distinct DC subsets in blood-stage malaria immunity

Antibodies are essential for the clearance of the Plasmodium parasite causing malaria. In order to investigate the role of distinct DC subsets in the generation of a specific antibody response during the blood stage of the Plasmodium yoelii infection, transgenic mice that express a human diphtheria toxin receptor (hDTR) on targeted cell populations were used. Using the specific markers known as Clec9A and SiglecH to express the hDTR, the 2 cell populations that were ablated, with repetitive injection with diphtheria toxin (DT), were CD8+ conventional DC (cDCs) and the plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) respectively. Mice were monitored for their parasitemia, IFNγ response and specific parasite antibody response, as summarised in the timeline below. From the results, it was observed that mice deficient in either of the subsets have better control over the parasitemia during infection. It was also postulated that the CD8+ cDCs are likely inducers of the TH1 response and are able to induce a substantial IFNγ expression. CD8- cDCs are likely to induce the TH2 response as an increase in IgG1 was observed. Additional experiments are needed to offer more insights in to the roles of the DC subsets in response to Plasmodium infection.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science