Malaria is a life-threatening disease commonly transmitted by mosquitos. Symptoms include fever, chills, vomiting, headaches, abdominal pain, and rapid heart rate, among others. Some symptoms usually appear 7 to 30 days after a mosquito bite, but it has been reported that they can take up to a year to develop. Unfortunately, an advanced case of malaria can be fatal. It is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, but also found in South America and Southeast Asia. The geographic location of prevalent cases is associated with the climate, which helps drive the spread of the disease. In warmer climates, mosquitoes are out, and the spread of malaria is more intense.
The life cycle and spread of malaria begins once the mosquito bites an individual. The bite transmits malaria, and travels to the liver where it remains dormant for one to four weeks. The parasites then leave the liver and infect red blood cells, which cause the symptoms to occur. If unattended the patient can develop severe symptoms including jaundice, seizures, or coma. An uninfected mosquito can then bite a patient with malaria and further transmit the disease. To prevent malaria an individual can take medicines, such as doxycycline, that will prevent infection but must adhere to strict medication regimens.
Malaria is curable if caught early enough. The goal of malaria treatment is to eliminate the parasites in the blood stream as soon as possible. However, two major limitations of successfully treating patients includes rapid development of the disease and access to sufficient medications and healthcare. Although malaria can be cured, it still affects over 200 million people worldwide. Consequently, there is a critical need to further study this disease to better treat patients.
A recent article in iScience, by Dr. Nicolas Cermakian and his team, demonstrated that parasite growth is impaired by circadian rhythm disruption and is time dependent. Cermakian is Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University and the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Chronobiology at the Douglas Research Center. His research focuses on circadian rhythm in the context of different conditions such as hormones and metabolism. More specifically, he investigates how circadian rhythm is affected in healthy and disease states.
Cermakian and others used mouse models to investigate the association between circadian rhythm and malaria. Interestingly, the team discovered that progression of the disease was influenced by the time of infection. More specifically, there was decreased inflammation and presence of parasites when infected at night. Further investigation indicated that at night there are fewer immature red blood cells for the parasite to target. These results provide foundational knowledge on how malaria progresses.
Researchers also demonstrated how circadian rhythm disfunction decreased parasite spread. As a result, Cermakian and his team concluded that circadian rhythm dysfunction dysregulates cell metabolism further reducing parasite growth. This finding indicates that desynchronization of our internal clocks, although not holistically beneficial, has a positive effect against malaria. The discoveries made by Cermakian and his team have the potential to contribute to new therapeutic options for malaria patients and better design prophylactic regimens. Altogether, this report helps identify key regulators of parasite progression and can inform medical decisions for patients with malaria.
Article, iScience, Nicolas Cermakian, McGill University, Laboratory of Molecular Chronobiology at the Douglas Research Center