Sickle-cell hemoglobin may gas malaria into submission, a new study proposes.
People who carry a mutation that deforms the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells are well-known to be protected against malaria. Scientists used to think the mutation prevented the malaria parasite from getting into blood cells. But researchers led by Miguel Soares at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in Oeiras, Portugal, now suggest another mechanism.
The sickle-cell mutation leads to higher production of a protein called heme oxygenase-1, which makes carbon monoxide gas. The gas helps reduce inflammation and protects against death in mice with malaria infection in their brains, the team reports in the April 29 Cell.