PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM INVITRO - DIMINISHED GROWTH IN HEMOGLOBIN-H DISEASE ERYTHROCYTES

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  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 65  (2) , 452-455
Abstract
Studies on the ability of P. falciparum to grow in vitro in the red blood cells of subjects with certain .beta.-thalassemia syndromes are often difficult to interpret because of the known inhibitory effect of an elevated cellular content of human fetal Hb (HbF). P. falciparum therefore was cultured in vitro in the erythrocytes of subjects with Hb H disease and various other .alpha.-thalassemia genotypes that are unaccompanied by increased levels of HbF. Growth of the malaria parasite was markedly retarded in the HbH red blood cells, when compared with growth in blood from normal control subjects. No consistent impairment of growth was seen in the erythrocytes of subjects having deletion of only 1 or 2 .alpha.-globin genes. Erythrocytes with a severe thalassemia phenotype provide a less hospitable growth environment for P. falciparum than normally hemoglobinized red blood cells, even in the absence of increased levels of HbF.