TENASCIN TAKES PART IN THE PROGRESS OF PATHOLOGICAL SEVERITY IN CEREBRAL FALCIPARUM INFECTION

We examined plasma level of circulating form of tenascin (TC) in falciparum malaria patients, cerebral malaria and non cerebral malaria, and compared them to uninfected healthy persons. Plasma level of TC examined were significantly higher in malaria patients than in control persons (p< 0.01). The results also show that among malaria patients, TC level was higher in the cerebral malaria patients compare to non cerebral malaria patients (p<0.10). Kinetics of TC level in plasma were related to kinetics of TNF-a level. Moreover, patients with higher level of TC showed higher level of parasitized erythrocytes binding ratio. Immunohistochemical study showed that TC was found in the cerebral microvessels of postmortem cerebral tissues from nine cerebral malaria cases. These results provide evi- dence that plasma level of TC correlates with the severity in cerebral malaria patients.