A longitudinal study of plasma BAFF levels in mothers and their infants in Uganda, and correlations with subsets of B cells
(2021) In PLoS ONE 16(1 January).- Abstract
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease with approximately half of the world’s population at risk. Young children and pregnant women are hit hardest by the disease. B cells and antibodies are part of an adaptive immune response protecting individuals continuously exposed to the parasite. An infection with Plasmodium falciparum can cause dysregulation of B cell homeostasis, while antibodies are known to be key in controlling symptoms and parasitemia. BAFF is an instrumental cytokine for the development and maintenance of B cells. Pregnancy alters the immune status and renders previously clinically immune women at risk of severe malaria, potentially due to altered B cell responses associated with changes in BAFF levels. In this... (More)
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease with approximately half of the world’s population at risk. Young children and pregnant women are hit hardest by the disease. B cells and antibodies are part of an adaptive immune response protecting individuals continuously exposed to the parasite. An infection with Plasmodium falciparum can cause dysregulation of B cell homeostasis, while antibodies are known to be key in controlling symptoms and parasitemia. BAFF is an instrumental cytokine for the development and maintenance of B cells. Pregnancy alters the immune status and renders previously clinically immune women at risk of severe malaria, potentially due to altered B cell responses associated with changes in BAFF levels. In this prospective study, we investigated the levels of BAFF in a malaria-endemic area in mothers and their infants from birth up to 9 months. We found that BAFF-levels are significantly higher in infants than in mothers. BAFF is highest in cord blood and then drops rapidly, but remains significantly higher in infants compared to mothers even at 9 months of age. We further correlated BAFF levels to P. falciparum-specific antibody levels and B cell frequencies and found a negative correlation between BAFF and both P. falciparum-specific and total proportions of IgG+ memory B cells, as well as CD27− memory B cells, indicating that exposure to both malaria and other diseases affect the development of B-cell memory and that BAFF plays a part in this. In conclusion, we have provided new information on how natural immunity against malaria is formed.
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- author
- Rönnberg, Caroline ; Lugaajju, Allan LU ; Nyman, Anna ; Hammar, Ulf ; Bottai, Matteo ; Lautenbach, Maximilian Julius ; Sundling, Christopher ; Kironde, Fred and Persson, Kristina E.M. LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 16
- issue
- 1 January
- article number
- e0245431
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85100074643
- pmid:33465125
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0245431
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- 2021 Rönnberg et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- id
- 2b058e00-1644-4d3c-bb57-3e11556eea6c
- date added to LUP
- 2021-04-22 16:59:08
- date last changed
- 2024-06-15 10:14:55
@article{2b058e00-1644-4d3c-bb57-3e11556eea6c,
abstract = {{<p>Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease with approximately half of the world’s population at risk. Young children and pregnant women are hit hardest by the disease. B cells and antibodies are part of an adaptive immune response protecting individuals continuously exposed to the parasite. An infection with Plasmodium falciparum can cause dysregulation of B cell homeostasis, while antibodies are known to be key in controlling symptoms and parasitemia. BAFF is an instrumental cytokine for the development and maintenance of B cells. Pregnancy alters the immune status and renders previously clinically immune women at risk of severe malaria, potentially due to altered B cell responses associated with changes in BAFF levels. In this prospective study, we investigated the levels of BAFF in a malaria-endemic area in mothers and their infants from birth up to 9 months. We found that BAFF-levels are significantly higher in infants than in mothers. BAFF is highest in cord blood and then drops rapidly, but remains significantly higher in infants compared to mothers even at 9 months of age. We further correlated BAFF levels to P. falciparum-specific antibody levels and B cell frequencies and found a negative correlation between BAFF and both P. falciparum-specific and total proportions of IgG<sup>+</sup> memory B cells, as well as CD27<sup>−</sup> memory B cells, indicating that exposure to both malaria and other diseases affect the development of B-cell memory and that BAFF plays a part in this. In conclusion, we have provided new information on how natural immunity against malaria is formed.</p>}},
author = {{Rönnberg, Caroline and Lugaajju, Allan and Nyman, Anna and Hammar, Ulf and Bottai, Matteo and Lautenbach, Maximilian Julius and Sundling, Christopher and Kironde, Fred and Persson, Kristina E.M.}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1 January}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{A longitudinal study of plasma BAFF levels in mothers and their infants in Uganda, and correlations with subsets of B cells}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245431}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0245431}},
volume = {{16}},
year = {{2021}},
}