Transcription profiling of brain tissue from cerebral malaria-resistant and susceptible strains of mice in a time series following infection with Plasmodium berghei

ABSTRACT: Microarray analyses allow the identification and assessment of molecular signatures in whole tissues undergoing pathological processes. To better understand cerebral malaria pathogenesis, we investigated intra-cerebral gene-expression profiles in well-defined genetically cerebral malaria-resistant (CM-R) and CM-susceptible (CM-S) mice, upon infection by Plasmodium berghei ANKA. We investigated mouse transcriptional responses prior to infection, and at early and late stages of infection by use of cDNA microarrays. Through a rigorous statistical approach with multiple testing corrections, we showed that P. berghei ANKA significantly altered brain gene expression in CM-R (BALB/c), and in CM-S (CBA/J and C57BL/6) mice, and that 327 genes discriminated between early and late infection stages, between mouse strains, and between CM-R and CM-S mice. We further identified 104, 56, 84 genes with significant differential expression between CM-R and CM-S mice on days 2, 5, and 7 respectively. The analysis of their functional annotation suggests that genes involved in metabolic energy pathways, the inflammatory response, and the neuroprotection/neurotoxicity balance play a major role in cerebral malaria pathogenesis. In particular, we evidenced the down-regulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation and the Reln pathway, and the up-regulation of genes involved in the NF-kB signalling pathway in CM-S mice. In addition, our data suggest that cerebral malaria and Alzheimer’s disease may share some common mechanisms of pathogenesis, as illustrated by the accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins in brains of CM-S mice, but not of CM-R mice. Our results indicate that microarray analyses can provide new insights into the key events that govern malaria pathogenesis.

INSTRUMENT(S): FUJIFILM BAS-5000 scanning hardware

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

SUBMITTER: Denis Puthier 

PROVIDER: E-MEXP-1018 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress