Role of Lipocalin 2 during malaria infection

疟疾是世界上最致命的传染病之一，目前还没有有效的疫苗，许多宿主对疟疾寄生虫的免疫反应尚不清楚。疟原虫在红细胞内觅食和繁殖，它们从这些细胞中排出会导致不同程度的贫血。关于宿主铁稳态在疟疾期间如何影响免疫系统，人们知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们发现Lipocalin 2是一种已知的早期先天免疫反应分子，在小鼠疟疾感染过程中大量分泌，是清除寄生虫所必需的。因此，本研究结果可能通过调节宿主铁代谢对Lcn2介导的抗疟疾免疫有新的认识。

Malaria is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world, with no effective vaccine yet that many of the host immune responses against malaria parasites remain unclear. Plasmodium parasites feed and multiply within erythrocytes, and their egress from these cells results in various degrees of anemia. Little is known about how host iron homeostasis affects the immune system during malaria. In this research we found that Lipocalin 2, a known early innate immune response molecule, is abundantly secreted during mouse malaria infection, and is required for the clearance of parasites. Therefore, results of this research may lead to a new understanding of Lcn2-mediated anti-malarial immunity through the modulation of host iron metabolism.