Natural hemozoin (nHZ), prepared after schizogony, consists of crystalline ferriprotoporphyrin-IX dimers from undigested heme bound to host and parasite proteins and lipids. Phagocytosed nHZ alters important functions of host phagocytes. Most alterations are long-term effects. We show that host fibrinogen (FG) was constantly present (at ϳ 1 FG per 25 000 HZ-heme molecules) and stably bound to nHZ from plasma-cultured parasites. FG was responsible for the rapid 100-fold stimulation of reactive oxygen species production and 50-fold increase of TNF and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 by human monocytes. Those effects, starting within minutes after nHZ cell contact, were because of interaction of FG with FG-receptors TLR4 and integrin CD11b/CD18. Receptor blockage by specific mAbs or removal of FG from nHZ abrogated the effects. nHZ-opsonizing IgGs contribute to the stimulatory response but are not essential for FG effects. Immediate increase in reactive oxygen species and TNF may switch on previously described long-term effects of nHZ, largely because of HZ-generated lipo-peroxidation products 15(S,R)-hydroxy-6,8,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid and 4-hydroxynonenal. The FG/HZ effects mediated by TLR4/integrins represent a novel paradigm of nHZ activity and allow expansion of nHZ effects to nonphagocytic cells, such as endothelia and airway epithelia, and lead to a better understanding of organ pathology in malaria. (Blood. 2011;117(21):5674-5682)
IntroductionNatural hemozoin (nHZ), as present in the food vacuole of Plasmodium falciparum and largely coincident with residual bodies (RBs) shed during schizogony, consists of a scaffold of crystalline ferriprotoporphyrin IX dimers (-hematin, BH) from undigested host hemoglobin-heme 1 bound to a vast array of host and parasite molecules. [2][3][4] nHZ is phagocytosed in vivo and in vitro by host phagocytes and alters important functions in those cells. Most functional alterations were long-term postphagocytic effects. 3,[5][6][7][8] Some of those long-term effects were also reported in human and murine phagocytes fed with BH or variously manipulated HZ. 9,10 By contrast, a powerful, short-term stimulation of oxidative burst by human monocytes was also shown to occur during phagocytosis of nHZ. 8 Here, we show that host fibrinogen (FG) was constantly present and stably bound to nHZ and RBs prepared from parasites cultured in presence of plasma. FG in nHZ was responsible for a prephagocytic rapid and powerful stimulation of oxidative burst, accompanied by release of TNF and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) by human monocytes. Those prephagocytic events were because of the interaction of FG with TLR4 and integrin CD11b/CD18 (CR3, Mac-1), known receptors for FG as an immune-active molecule. [11][12][13] Present data are the first indication that nHZ-bound FG may act as a powerful self-signal molecule for early immune responses and a trigger for the persistent long-term effects that play multiple roles in malaria pathogenesis.
Methods
ReagentsUnless otherwise stated, reagen...