CAPES project: complement evasion

 

Stipend of CAPES and Science without Borders

Duration: 4 years

Application period: 2014-2017

Doctorate: Dr. Thiago Ferreira de Araujo Rosa

Summary:

As part of the innate immune system, human complement is a first line of defence against microbial invaders. However, microbes can evade complement recognition by binding to regulator proteins that normally protect host cells from complement activation. Although complement evasion has been studied extensively in other pathogens, it has not been observed until recently in Plasmodium spp., the parasites responsible for the tropical disease malaria. It was the aim of the project to investigate the molecular mechanisms employed by the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to avoid lysis by the human complement. A particular focus was lying on the aquisition of the complement regulator factor H during the complement evasion process.