Two Approaches to Better Understand Malaria Infections : Comparisons of Plasmodium Genotyping Tools & Investigations into the Role of NK cell IL-10 Secretion in Human Malaria Disease

Malaria is a complex infectious disease and clinical outcomes are dependent on an array of host and parasite factors that are only partially understood. Virulence on the part of the pathogen can stem from antigenic variation and the vast genetic diversity of parasite populations. Multiple genotyping tools exist for characterizing parasite genetic diversity which are useful for epidemiological studies and tracking multi-drug resistant strains. Herein we describe a detailed comparison of two genotyping techniques and describe an R code that can be used to further optimize a 24 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay to differentiate parasite isolates. Host contributions to malaria infection outcomes are largely influenced by the prior experience of the immune system and components of the early inflammatory response to infection. Early NK cell IL-10 secretion in mouse models has been shown to abrogate immunopathology that leads to severe disease and death. The results presented herein highlight a potentially similar protective role of NK cell IL-10 secretion in human malaria disease. In summary, our efforts highlight the utility of new genotyping techniques for determining Plasmodium genetic diversity. Using samples from Malian donors we also broaden the known biological role of NK cell IL-10 secretion in human uncomplicated malaria infections.