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Blood, Vol. 95 No. 4 (February 15), 2000:
pp. 1481-1486
RED CELLS
US Army Medical Research Unit, Kenya; the Kenya Medical Research
Institute, Nairobi, Kenya; the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital,
Kisumu, Kenya; Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of
Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD; and the Kenyan Ministry of Health.
Severe anemia is one of the most lethal complications in
children infected with Plasmodium falciparum. The pathogenesis
of this anemia is not completely understood. Experimental data from malaria-infected humans and animal models suggest that uninfected red
cells have a shortened life span. This study looked for changes in the
red cell surfaces of children with severe malarial anemia that could
explain this accelerated destruction. A prospective case-control study
was conducted of children with severe P falciparum anemia
(hemoglobin of 5 g/dL or lower) admitted to a large general hospital in
western Kenya. Children with severe anemia were compared with children
who had symptoms of uncomplicated malaria and with asymptomatic
children. Cytofluorometry was used to quantify in vitro
erythrophagocytosis and to measure red cell surface immunoglobulin G
(IgG) and the complement regulatory proteins CR1, CD55, and CD59. Red
cells from patients with severe anemia were more susceptible to
phagocytosis and also showed increased surface IgG and deficiencies in
CR1 and CD55 compared with controls. Red cell surface CD59 was
elevated in cases of severe anemia compared with asymptomatic controls
but not as compared with symptomatic controls. The surface of red cells
of children with severe P falciparum anemia is modified by the
deposition of IgG and alterations in the levels of complement regulatory proteins. These changes could contribute to the accelerated destruction of red cells in these patients by mechanisms such as
phagocytosis or complement-mediated lysis.
(Blood. 2000;95:1481-1486)
Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the
death of more than 1 million children each year in sub-Saharan Africa.
Death is usually due to complications, such as cerebral malaria and severe anemia. In western Kenya, severe anemia due to P
falciparum infection is a leading cause of mortality among children
younger than 2 years of age. It remains a mystery why, despite the fact that this parasite's primary target is the red blood cell (RBC), severe anemia is seen only in a small proportion of malaria
cases.1 The pathogenesis of severe anemia in malaria is not
clearly understood, but such factors as malnutrition, iron
deficiency,2 bone marrow dysfunction,3 and the
level of parasitemia4 are thought to contribute to its
manifestation. In addition, there is ample evidence to suggest that the
life span of uninfected RBCs is decreased by accelerated
destruction.5-8
The mechanism of the increased rate of RBC destruction in malaria is
unknown. The presence of circulating monocytes containing phagocytized
uninfected RBCs9 suggests that during malaria infection,
uninfected cells develop lesions that activate monocytes to capture and
engulf them. The nature of the damage that triggers RBC phagocytosis is
unclear. We suspect deposition of antibody on the RBC surface. However,
RBC surface antibody has not been observed consistently in all
studies.10-12 In a study in Thailand,12 for
example, no correlation was observed between the number of immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules on RBCs and the degree of anemia. A
possible explanation for the lack of correlation in that study is that
only 6 out of 115 patients would qualify as having severe anemia
(a packed cell volume of less than 20%) as is known to occur in areas of Africa in which P falciparum is endemic.
Another possible mechanism of RBC destruction is through the
activation of complement, which is known to occur in malaria infection.13 RBCs are normally protected from complement
activation by the action of surface complement regulatory proteins,
such as complement receptor 1 (CR1); decay accelerating factor (CD55); and membrane inhibitor of reactive lysis (CD59). Acquired or inherited deficiencies of these proteins have been implicated in the pathogenesis of some forms of immune hemolytic anemia.14-15 Therefore,
complement regulatory proteins may play an important role in protecting
uninfected RBCs from destruction during malaria infection. In the study
presented here, we used cytofluorometry to determine the susceptibility of red cells to in vitro phagocytosis and to measure red cell surface
IgG, CR1, CD55, and CD59 in patients with severe malarial anemia and controls.
Study design and patient population
Blood samples and clinical laboratory investigations
Measurement of RBC surface CR1, CD55, CD59, and IgG Upon arrival at the laboratory, a 20 µL aliquot of EDTA blood was placed in 2 mL of Alsever's buffer (Sigma) and stored at 4°C until fluorescent staining was performed, usually within 48 hours. All assays were performed by personnel who were unaware of the clinical status of the volunteers. Indirect fluorescent staining was done with the use of monoclonal antibodies against red cell surface CR1 (Clone E11, Accurate Chemical Co, New York), CD55 (Clone BRIC-110, Accurate Chemical Co), CD59 (Clone MEM 43, Research Diagnostics Inc, Flanders, NJ), and a secondary goat anti-mouse fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled polyclonal antibody (Becton Dickinson, San José, CA). Irrelevant monoclonal antibodies of the same isotype were used as negative controls (Sigma). For detection of total red cell surface IgG, a FITC-labeled goat anti-human polyclonal F(ab)2 antibody fragment was used (Sigma). Blood samples were stained in 96-well V-bottom polystyrene plates. Primary antibodies were used at a dilution of 1:50 and the secondary antibody was used at a dilution of 1:100 in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (pH 7.4) containing 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA). All incubations were carried out in the dark and at room temperature for 30 minutes followed by washing in PBS/1% BSA. After the final incubation, the samples were resuspended in PBS containing 1% paraformaldehyde and were stored in the dark at 4°C until acquisition was performed. Cytofluorometry was performed with the use of a FACScan flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson). Acquisition and analysis were performed with WinFCM and EXPO software packages (Applied Cytometry Systems, Sheffield, UK). Prior to the beginning of the study, the instrument settings were optimized and remained the same throughout the study period. The performance of the instrument was monitored weekly with the use of standard fluorescent beads (Becton Dickinson), according to the manufacturer's instructions. A red blood cell standard normal control (BioErgonomics, White Bear Lake, MN) was stained each day to control for interassay variation. RBCs were gated on the basis of their forward and side scatter characteristics with the use of logarithmic amplification. FL1 fluorescence was measured with the use of logarithmic amplification. The median values from histograms were converted to arbitrary units in a linear scale of 1 to 1024 channels. The values for CR1, CD55, and CD59 were normalized to the mean of the median fluorescence of the red cell standard by use of the following formula:
Quantitation of erythrophagocytosis Cytofluorometry was used to quantify erythrophagocytosis essentially as described.19 Then, 108 washed RBCs from the EDTA tube were labeled with a 2.5 µM solution of the lipophilic fluorescent cell tracking dye PKH-26 (Sigma) for 4 minutes. The reaction was stopped by resuspending the cells in fetal calf serum (FCS) (Life Science Technologies, Rockville, MD) followed by thorough washing with 10% FCS in RPMI 1640. The cells were then resuspended in 1 mL of the same medium. Then, 100 µL of the washed cells were incubated with 106 U-937 monocytic cells (ATCC, Manasas, VA) for 2 hours at 37°C in humidified air containing 5% CO2. The nonphagocytized RBCs were lysed by treatment with hypotonic ammonium chloride buffer (pH 7.2) for 5 minutes at 37°C. Thereafter, the cells were treated at room temperature with 70% ethanol for 20 minutes in order to fix the monocytes and to remove the PKH-26 from any ghosts still adherent to the monocytes. Finally, the cells were resuspended in PBS buffer. Cytofluorometry was performed with the use of a FACScan flow cytometer, and data were analyzed with LYSIS II software (Becton Dickinson). U-937 cells were gated on the basis of their forward and side scatter characteristics with the use of linear amplification. FL2 fluorescence was measured with the use of logarithmic amplification. We counted 10 000 cells and estimated the percentage of fluorescent population, containing ingested RBCs, from the bimodal histogram curve.Ethical approval and consent Scientific and ethical approval for this investigation were obtained from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, and the Human Subjects Research Review Board, Office of the Surgeon General, US Army, Washington, DC. Informed consent was obtained from each parent or guardian at the time of enrollment.Data analysis Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS software package (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Unless stated otherwise, paired variables containing continuous numeric data were compared by means of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for 2 related samples. Categorical variables were compared with the use of the Pearson chi-square. All tests were 2-tailed with alpha = 0.05. Continuous numeric data are presented as either medians with ranges or means ± standard deviation (SD).
Demographic and clinical characteristics A total of 59 potential cases were admitted to the pediatric ward of the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital during the study period. Of these, 42 cases of severe anemia (SA) met the inclusion criteria and were matched to 41 SCs and 40 ACs. Both genders were equally represented in all groups (SA = 50% male; SC = 51.2% male; AC = 50% male). Likewise, there were no differences in the mean age for each group (SA = 17.4 ± 12.5 months; SC = 17.1 ± 12.0 months; AC = 17.0 ± 12.5 months). In each group, 70% or more of the individuals were of Luo ethnic background.
Cytofluorometry
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that during P
falciparum malaria, uninfected RBCs are destroyed at an accelerated rate.5-8 In the present study, we looked for clues of
immunologic mechanisms that could account for the premature destruction
of red cells in children with severe P falciparum anemia. In
these patients, we have identified modifications of the RBCs' surface membranes that consist of the presence of IgG and alterations in the
expression of surface CR1, CD55, and CD59. We believe that our analysis
supports the conclusion that the surface abnormalities affect both
infected and uninfected RBCs because the fluorescence histograms were
unimodal and not bimodal, as would be expected from the presence of a
separate population of cells with drastically different fluorescence.
Furthermore, the surface changes observed are unlikely to come from the
sole contribution of infected red cells because more than 80% of
volunteers had parasitemias of 4% or less upon enrollment. The median
fluorescence that we chose to report is less subject to skewness from
the contribution of the small percentage of infected red cells that may
have extreme values. It is also noteworthy that we did not find any
correlation between the CR1, CD55, CD59, and IgG surface fluorescence
and the parasite density.
We sincerely thank Alfred Odindo, the late Bonventure Otieno, Solomon
Otieno, Fred Onyango, Ramadhan Mtalib, as well as smear readers and the
drivers of the Walter Reed Project for their contribution to the
successful execution of the study. We are also indebted to
the volunteers and their parents for their kind participation.
Submitted May 17, 1999; accepted October 19, 1999.
Supported by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command and
an MIM grant from the World Health Organization.
J.N.W. is a senior associate of the National Research Council.
The views of the authors do not purport to reflect the position of the
US Department of the Army or the US Department of Defense. The US
government has the right to retain a nonexclusive, royalty-free license
in and to any copyright covering this paper.
Reprints: José A. Stoute, Unit 64109 Box 401, APO AE
09831-4109; e-mail: stoutej{at}net2000ke.com.
The publication costs of this
article were defrayed in part by
page charge payment. Therefore,
and solely to indicate this fact,
this article is hereby marked
"advertisement"
in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
section 1734.
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