Nature Communications (Nov 2021)

Plasmodium sporozoite phospholipid scramblase interacts with mammalian carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 1 to infect hepatocytes

  • Sung-Jae Cha,
  • Min-Sik Kim,
  • Chan Hyun Na,
  • Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27109-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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After transmission of Plasmodium sporozoites from infected mosquitoes, parasites first infect hepatocytes. Here, Cha et al. identify a sporozoite ligand (phospholipid scramblase) and the hepatocytic receptor (carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 1) as relevant for hepatocyte invasion and show that an antibody to hepatocyte-binding peptide 1 (HP1), which structurally mimics the sporozoite ligand, partially protects mice from infection.