Fig. 5: The chemokine CXCL10 promotes parasite growth.
From: Malaria parasites both repress host CXCL10 and use it as a cue for growth acceleration
A NF54 Pf parasites were cultured with media containing: (1) complete media [lacking CXCL10] (Black, RPMI); (2) media harvested from untreated THP-1 cells [lacking CXCL10] (Green, CM-NT); (3) media harvested from untreated THP-1 cells with supplemental 25 ng/ml CXCL10 [containing CXCL10] (gray, CM-NT+CXCL10); (4) media harvested from THP-1 cells pretreated with Pf-ring-stage-derived EVs [lacking CXCL10] (pink, CM-Pf-EVs); 5) Media harvested from THP-1 cells pretreated with Pf-ring-stage-derived EVs and supplemental 25 ng/ml CXCL10 [containing CXCL10] (red, CM-Pf EVs+CXCL10); or (6) Media harvested from THP-1 cells transfected with Pf gDNA [containing CXCL10] (blue, CM-Pf DNA). Parasitemia levels were measured every second day using flow cytometry. Graph shows relative parasitemia level. SEM, n = 5 biologically independent experiments, one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test, (1 day- CM-NT - RPMI *P = 0.0435, 3 day- CM-NT + CXCL10 - RPMI **P = 0.00480, CM-Pf DNA - RPMI ***P < 0.001, CM-Pf EVs + CXCL10 - RPMI **P = 0.00489, 5 day- CM-NT - RPMI **P = 0.00502, CM-NT + CXCL10 - RPMI ***P < 0.001, CM-Pf DNA - RPMI ***P < 0.001, CM-Pf EVs + CXCL 10 - RPMI ***P < 0.001). The data was analyzed using Diva v. 8.0.1 software (BD). The gating strategy is demonstrated in Supplementary Figure 27. B Representative Giemsa smears from a growth assay (A). Size bar 10 µm. Results are representative of at least three independent biological replicates. C Parasitemia counting using Giemsa smears from day 5 of the parasite culture (A). n = 3 biologically independent experiments, SEM, one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test, (CM-NT - RPMI *P = 0.0373, CM-NT + CXCL10 - RPMI ***P < 0.001, CM-Pf DNA - RPMI ***P < 0.001, CM-Pf EVs - RPMI *P = 0.0351, CM-Pf EVs + CXCL 1 0 – RPMI ***P < 0.001). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
