Production and Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles in Malaria

Abstract

Growing attention is drawn toward the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in infectious diseases. EVs, which are small vesicles released by cells, are involved in cellular communication, immune regulation, and pathogenesis. EVs act as messenger carrying functional cargoes, including RNA, DNA, lipids and proteins from a donor cell to regulate the function of a recipient cell. In malaria, EVs play a key role in regulating the progression from the blood to the transmission stage by promoting the switch between asexual and sexual stages that are taken up by mosquitoes. In addition to their role in parasite communication, EVs modulate the immune system and regulate endothelial cell function.In this chapter, we describe protocols to isolate, purify and characterize EVs derived from Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cell culture.