Erythrocyte invasion-neutralising antibodies prevent Plasmodium falciparum RH5 from binding to basigin-containing membrane protein complexes

Abstract

Basigin is an essential host receptor for invasion of Plasmodium falciparum into human erythrocytes, interacting with parasite surface protein PfRH5. PfRH5 is a leading blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate and a target of growth-inhibitory antibodies. Here we show that erythrocyte basigin is exclusively found in one of two macromolecular complexes, bound either to plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase 1/4 (PMCA1/4) or to monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1). PfRH5 binds to each of these complexes with a higher affinity than to isolated basigin ectodomain, making it likely that these are the physiological targets of PfRH5. PMCA-mediated Ca2+ export is not affected by PfRH5, making it unlikely that this is the mechanism underlying changes in calcium flux at the interface between an erythrocyte and the invading parasite. However, our studies rationalise the function of the most effective growth inhibitory antibodies targeting PfRH5. While these antibodies do not reduce the binding of PfRH5 to monomeric basigin, they do reduce its binding to basigin-PMCA and basigin-MCT complexes. This indicates that the most effective PfRH5-targeting antibodies inhibit growth by sterically blocking the essential interaction of PfRH5 with basigin in its physiological context.

Data availability

Data within graphs (source data) and uncropped gel and blot images are included with this submission

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Abhishek Jamwal

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Cristina F Constantin

    Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Stephan Hirshi

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Sebastian Henrich

    Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    Sebastian Henrich, is affiliated with Roche Pharma AG. The author has no financial interests to declare..
  5. Wolfgang Bildl

    Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Bernd Fakler

    Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    Bernd Fakler, is a shareholder of Logopharm GmbH. Logopharm GmbH produces ComplexioLyte 47 used in this study. The company provides ComplexioLyte reagents to academic institutions on a non-profit basis..
  7. Simon J Draper

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    Simon J Draper, is a named inventor on patents related to PfRH5-targeting antibodies.(PCT/GB2105/052205, PCT/GB2017/052608 and PCT/GB2019/052885)..
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9415-1357
  8. Uwe Schulte

    Institute of Physiology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    Uwe Schulte, is an employee and shareholder of Logopharm GmbH and BF is shareholder of Logopharm GmbH. Logopharm GmbH produces ComplexioLyte 47 used in this study. The company provides ComplexioLyte reagents to academic institutions on a non-profit basis..
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3557-0591
  9. Matthew K Higgins

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    matthew.higgins@bioch.ox.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    Matthew K Higgins, is a named inventor on patents related to PfRH5-targeting antibodies.(PCT/GB2105/052205, PCT/GB2017/052608 and PCT/GB2019/052885)..
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2870-1955

Funding

Wellcome Trust (20797/Z/20/Z)

  • Abhishek Jamwal
  • Stephan Hirshi
  • Matthew K Higgins

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 746,TP 20)

  • Bernd Fakler

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2023, Jamwal et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 1,369
    views
  • 226
    downloads
  • 11
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Abhishek Jamwal
  2. Cristina F Constantin
  3. Stephan Hirshi
  4. Sebastian Henrich
  5. Wolfgang Bildl
  6. Bernd Fakler
  7. Simon J Draper
  8. Uwe Schulte
  9. Matthew K Higgins
(2023)
Erythrocyte invasion-neutralising antibodies prevent Plasmodium falciparum RH5 from binding to basigin-containing membrane protein complexes
eLife 12:e83681.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83681

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83681

Further reading

    1. Medicine
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    Berit Siedentop, Viacheslav N Kachalov ... Sebastian Bonhoeffer
    Research Article

    Background:

    Under which conditions antibiotic combination therapy decelerates rather than accelerates resistance evolution is not well understood. We examined the effect of combining antibiotics on within-patient resistance development across various bacterial pathogens and antibiotics.

    Methods:

    We searched CENTRAL, EMBASE, and PubMed for (quasi)-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published from database inception to 24 November 2022. Trials comparing antibiotic treatments with different numbers of antibiotics were included. Patients were considered to have acquired resistance if, at the follow-up culture, a resistant bacterium (as defined by the study authors) was detected that had not been present in the baseline culture. We combined results using a random effects model and performed meta-regression and stratified analyses. The trials’ risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane tool.

    Results:

    42 trials were eligible and 29, including 5054 patients, qualified for statistical analysis. In most trials, resistance development was not the primary outcome and studies lacked power. The combined odds ratio for the acquisition of resistance comparing the group with the higher number of antibiotics with the comparison group was 1.23 (95% CI 0.68–2.25), with substantial between-study heterogeneity (I2=77%). We identified tentative evidence for potential beneficial or detrimental effects of antibiotic combination therapy for specific pathogens or medical conditions.

    Conclusions:

    The evidence for combining a higher number of antibiotics compared to fewer from RCTs is scarce and overall compatible with both benefit or harm. Trials powered to detect differences in resistance development or well-designed observational studies are required to clarify the impact of combination therapy on resistance.

    Funding:

    Support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 310030B_176401 (SB, BS, CW), grant 32FP30-174281 (ME), grant 324730_207957 (RDK)) and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, cooperative agreement AI069924 (ME)) is gratefully acknowledged.

    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    Vera Vollenweider, Karoline Rehm ... Rolf Kümmerli
    Research Article

    The global rise of antibiotic resistance calls for new drugs against bacterial pathogens. A common approach is to search for natural compounds deployed by microbes to inhibit competitors. Here, we show that the iron-chelating pyoverdines, siderophores produced by environmental Pseudomonas spp., have strong antibacterial properties by inducing iron starvation and growth arrest in pathogens. A screen of 320 natural Pseudomonas isolates used against 12 human pathogens uncovered several pyoverdines with particularly high antibacterial properties and distinct chemical characteristics. The most potent pyoverdine effectively reduced growth of the pathogens Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus in a concentration- and iron-dependent manner. Pyoverdine increased survival of infected Galleria mellonella host larvae and showed low toxicity for the host, mammalian cell lines, and erythrocytes. Furthermore, experimental evolution of pathogens combined with whole-genome sequencing revealed limited resistance evolution compared to an antibiotic. Thus, pyoverdines from environmental strains have the potential to become a new class of sustainable antibacterials against specific human pathogens.