Malaria and Epstein-Barr Virus Linked to Pediatric Cancer in Africa

In a new study published online in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm explain how certain Plasmodium falciparum antigens directly induce Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation, increasing the risk of Burkitt lymphoma.

EBV is a ubiquitous virus that establishes a lifelong persistence following primary infection. How EBV affects its host hinges on a balance between viral latency, viral replication, and host immune responses. Generally harmless in almost every host and rarely a cause of disease, reactivation of EBV has been causally associated with various cancers. Acute malaria infection is known to increase the level of circulating EBV, but the precise mechanisms through which this virus reactivation occurs had been previously unknown.

Now, Arnaud Chêne and colleagues have identified CIDR1a as the first microbial protein able to spur a latently EBV-infected cell into active production. Their results suggest that P. falciparum-derived proteins can lead to a direct reactivation of EBV during acute malaria infection, increasing the risk of Burkitt lymphoma development for children living in malaria-endemic areas.

This work was supported by grants from the Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish International Development Cooperation, Malaria and EBV Reactivation Agency (Sida/SAREC), Barncancerfonden, the Swedish Research Council (VR), and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.

CITATION: Chêne A, Donati D, Guerreiro-Cacais AO, Levitsky V, Chen Q, et al. (2007) A molecular link between malaria and Epstein-Barr virus reactivation. PLoS Pathog 3(6): e80.

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030080

CONTACT:
Arnaud Chêne
Karolinska Institutet
MTC / KI
Tomtebodavägen 12C Box 280
Stockholm, S-17177
Sweden
+46 8 457 25 22
+46 8 31 05 25 (fax)
Arnaud.Chene@ki.se

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors