Fig 6. P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte lysate co-culture induces reciprocal cytokine expression profiles in symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria patient PBMCs.

PBMCs from symptomatic (n = 6) and asymptomatic (n = 9) malaria patients were co-cultured with lysate from P. falciparum strain H1064 schizont infected erythrocytes at a schizont to effector cell ratio of 2:1 for 6 days and the resulting culture supernatant was assayed for cytokine concentration using multiplex analysis. This revealed a set of 15 cytokines that were reciprocally and differentially expressed in the patient groups. (A) one cytokine, a soluble cytokine receptor, and two soluble CD markers were more highly expressed by the symptomatic patient PBMCs. (B) 11 chemokines/cytokines were more highly expressed by asymptomatic patient PBMCs. (C) Asymptomatic patients produce more TNF-α when exposed to P. falciparum strain H1064 schizont lysate than symptomatic patients; however, both patient groups produce equivalent amounts of both soluble TNF-R1 and TNF-R2. Statistical significance was established using a two-tailed Mann Whitney test comparing the two patient groups. * = p-value < 0.05, ** = p-value < 0.01.