Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Friendly bacteria in the human gut can trigger a natural immune response against malaria, say researchers.
They found that sugary proteins on the surface of some healthy gut bacteria train the immune system to fend off the malaria parasite.
Tests, in the journal Cell, showed the same sugary protein could be used in a vaccine to immunise mice against malaria.
It may explain why some people never catch malaria.
There is a vast community of bacteria living in the human gut that keeps us healthy.
A team of Portuguese researchers discovered that the Plasmodium parasite, which can cause malaria when it enters the bloodstream through a mosquito bite, has a sugary molecule on its surface that is also found on E. coli that live in the gut.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30337215
They found that sugary proteins on the surface of some healthy gut bacteria train the immune system to fend off the malaria parasite.
Tests, in the journal Cell, showed the same sugary protein could be used in a vaccine to immunise mice against malaria.
It may explain why some people never catch malaria.
There is a vast community of bacteria living in the human gut that keeps us healthy.
A team of Portuguese researchers discovered that the Plasmodium parasite, which can cause malaria when it enters the bloodstream through a mosquito bite, has a sugary molecule on its surface that is also found on E. coli that live in the gut.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30337215