Biomarker malaria

Detection by LDMS and structural elucidation of other secondary metabolite products, generated in the host during the onset of the parasite disease, is discussed. These molecules may serve as additional biomarkers for rapid malaria diagnosis by LDMS. For instance, choline phosphate (CP) is identified as the source of several low-mass ions observed in parasite-infected blood samples in addition to heme biomarker ions. The CP levels track the sample parasitemia levels. This biomarker can provide additional specificity and sensitivity when compared to malaria detection based on heme ion signals alone. Furthermore the observed elevated CP levels are discussed in the context of Plasmodium metabolism during its intra-erythrocytic life cycle. These data can... 

Choline Phosphate—Another Unique LDMS Biomarker for Malaria Detection... 

In what follows, the uses of MS for pathogen detection would be demonstrated in the examples of intact Bacillus spore species, as well as Plasmodium parasites— the causative agent of malaria. The types of characteristic biomarker molecules detected by MS for these two very different cases would be discussed as well as the factors influencing mass spectra of intact organisms. 

Recently, a novel physical method for rapid and sensitive malaria detection in blood has been developed [46-50]. This method— ultraviolet LD MS—is based on the detection of heme (iron protoporphyrin) in blood as a qualitative and quantitative malaria biomarker, both in vitro [46] and in vivo [49,50]. In infected erythrocytes, the parasite sequesters heme from digested hemoglobin in a molecular crystal (malaria pigment or hemozoin). LDMS detects only heme from hemozoin in parasite-infected blood, and not heme, bound to hemoglobin... 

Z. M. Ali, M. Bakli, A. Fontaine, N. Bakkali, V. Vu Hai, S. Audebert, Y. Boublik, F. Pages, F. Remoue, C. Rogier, C. Fraisier, L. Almeras. Assessment of Anopheles salivary antigens as individual exposure biomarkers to species-specific malaria vector bites. Malaria Journal, 11, 439, 2012. 

---