Deciphering genetic regulation of CD14 by SP1 through characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear transcriptome of P. faiciparum and P. vivax infected malaria patients.

Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are two major parasites responsible for malaria which remains a threat to almost 50% of world's population despite decade-long eradication program. One possible reason behind this conundrum is that the bases of clinical variability in malaria caused by either species are complex and poorly understood. Whole-genome transcriptome was analyzed to identify the active and predominant pathways in the PBMC of P. falciparum and P. vivax infected malaria patients. Deregulated genes were identified and annotated using R Bioconductor and DAVID/KEGG respectively. Genetic and functional regulation of CD14, a prioritized candidate, were established by quantitative RT-PCR, genotyping using RFLP and resequencing, mapping of transcription factor binding using CONSITE and TFBIND, dual luciferase assay, western blot analysis, RNAi- mediated gene knockdown and chromatin-immunoprecipation. The study highlighted that deregulation of host immune and inflammatory genes particularly CD14 as a key event in P. falciparum malaria. An abundance of allele-C of rs5744454, located in CD14 promoter, in severe malaria motivated us to establish an allele-specific regulation of CD14 by SP1. An enhancement of SP1 and CD14 expression was observed in artemisinin treated human monocyte cell line. Our data not only reinstates that CD14 of TLR pathway plays a predominant role in P. falciparum malaria, it establishes a functional basis for genetic association of rs5744454 with P. falciparum severe malaria by demonstrating a cis-regulatory role of this promoter polymorphism. Moreover, the study points towards a novel pharmacogenetic aspect of artemisinin-based anti-malarial therapy. FUND: DST-SERB, Govt. of India, SR/SO/HS-0056/2013.