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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1456-1460, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00506-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Levels of Soluble CD163 and Severity of Malaria in Children in Ghana
Kwadwo A. Kusi,1,4,
Ben A. Gyan,1*
Bamenla Q. Goka,2
Daniel Dodoo,1
George Obeng-Adjei,2
Marita Troye-Blomberg,3
Bartholomew D. Akanmori,1 and
Jonathan P. Adjimani4
Immunology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana,1 Department of Child Health, University of Ghana Medical School, College of Health Sciences, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana,2 Department of Immunology, Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden,3 Department of Biochemistry, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana4
Received 10 December 2007/ Returned for modification 4 February 2008/ Accepted 4 July 2008
CD163 is an acute-phase-regulated monocyte/macrophage membrane receptor expressed late in inflammation. It is involved in the haptoglobin-mediated removal of free hemoglobin from plasma, has been identified as a naturally soluble plasma glycoprotein with potential anti-inflammatory properties, and is possibly linked to an individual's haptoglobin phenotype. High levels of soluble CD163 (sCD163) in a malaria episode may therefore downregulate inflammation and curb disease severity. In order to verify this, the relationships between sCD163 levels, malaria severity, and selected inflammatory mediators (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-
], interleukin-6 [IL-6], and IL-10) were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using plasma samples obtained from pediatric malaria patients with uncomplicated malaria (UM [n = 38]), cerebral malaria (CM [n = 52]), and severe malarial anemia (SA [n = 55]) during two consecutive malaria transmission seasons (2002 and 2003). Median sCD163 levels were higher in UM (11.9 µg/ml) patients than in SA (7.7 µg/ml; P = 0.010) and CM (8.0 µg/ml; P = 0.031) patients. Levels of sCD163 were also higher in all patient groups than in a group of 81 age-matched healthy controls. The higher sCD163/TNF- ratio in UM patients, coupled with the fact that sCD163 levels correlated with TNF- levels in UM patients but not in CM and SA patients, suggests inflammatory dysregulation in the complicated cases. The study showed that sCD163 levels are elevated during acute malaria. High sCD163 levels in UM patients may be due to the induction of higher-level anti-inflammatory responses, enabling them to avoid disease complications. It is also possible that UM patients simply lost their CD163 receptors from macrophages in inflammatory sites while complicated-malaria patients still had their receptors attached to activated macrophages, reflecting ongoing and higher-level inflammation associated with complicated malaria.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Immunology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, P.O. Box LG581, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. Phone: 233-24-4726016. Fax: 233-21-502182. E-mail: bgyan{at}noguchi.mimcom.net
Published ahead of print on 16 July 2008.
Present address: Parasitology Dept., Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1456-1460, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00506-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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