Uno studio condotto dall’Istituto di Ricerca in Biomedicina (IRB) di Bellinzona affiliato all’Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), in collaborazione con il KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya e l’Università di Oxford, riguardante un nuovo meccanismo molecolare che genera nell’uomo anticorpi ad ampio spettro contro la malaria si è meritato nei giorni scorsi una pubblicazione nella prestigiosa rivista scientifica “Nature”.
La ricerca, parzialmente finanziata dal Fondo nazionale svizzero (FNS) e dall’European Research Council (ERC), ha permesso di isolare da individui esposti alla malaria, un nuovo tipo di anticorpi che riconoscono diversi parassiti della malaria e ne ha identificato le proteine bersaglio.
I nuovi anticorpi sono in grado di allertare il sistema immunitario per rimuovere e distruggere le cellule infettate e rappresentano quindi un nuovo strumento per combattere la malaria, il cui parassita (il Plasmodium falciparum) ha sviluppato una strategia camaleontica che consiste nel cambiare continuamente il suo rivestimento proteico.
EnCa
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