Pathogenesis and therapy of experimental malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome

Malaria is a worldwide, devastating and often deadly disease. Artemisinin antimalarial drug treatments have a high efficacy and rapidly kill the parasites in the human body. However, these drugs are less effective to cure malaria complications, such as cerebral malaria and malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome. Complications are the main cause of death and often involve inflammation and tissue damage with subsequent edema. Until now, all clinical trials with adjunctive treatments, aimed to inhibit inflammation and edema, have failed. We think that when the host dies despite parasite clearance, the restoration of tissue function is failing. The recovery of inflamed tissue is a very active and programmed process aiming at repair and restoration of normal function of cells and tissues. However, almost nothing is known about the mechanisms involved in the recovery from malaria. Therefore, we will study the healing processes in detail in our mouse model of one of the deadliest complications of malaria, namely malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome. We are convinced that this will improve our knowledge on the recovery of malaria and may pave the way to develop more efficient therapeutic strategies for the complications.