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Volume 27, Number 2—February 2021
Research

Plasma MicroRNA Profiling of Plasmodium falciparum Biomass and Association with Severity of Malaria Disease

Himanshu Gupta12Comments to Author , Mercedes Rubio1, Antonio Sitoe, Rosauro Varo, Pau Cisteró, Lola Madrid, Inocencia Cuamba, Alfons Jimenez, Xavier Martiáñez-Vendrell, Diana Barrios, Lorena Pantano, Allison Brimacombe, Mariona Bustamante, Quique Bassat3, and Alfredo Mayor3
Author affiliations: ISGlobal, Hospital Clinic—Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (H. Gupta, M. Rubio, R. Varo, P. Cisteró, A. Jimenez, X. Martiáñez-Vendrell, D. Barrios, A. Brimacombe, M. Bustamante, Q. Bassat, A. Mayor); Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM), Maputo, Mozambique (A. Sitoe, R. Varo, L. Madrid, I. Cuamba, Q. Bassat, A. Mayor); Spanish Consortium for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain (A. Jimenez, M. Bustamante, Q. Bassat, A. Mayor); Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (L. Pantano); Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona (M. Bustamante); I; nstitut Català de Recerca en Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona (Q. Bassat); Hospital Sant Joan de Déu—University of Barcelona Pediatrics Department, Barcelona (Q. Bassat)

Main Article

Table 2

Characteristics of children with severe and uncomplicated malaria recruited for case–control studies in 2006 and 2014, Mozambique*

Characteristic 2006
 2014
UM, n = 39 SM, n = 44 p value UM, n = 30 SM, n = 40 p value
Age, y, mean (SD)†
 2.3 (1.1)
 2.4 (1.3)
 0.671
2.2 (1.3)
 2.8 (1.2)
 0.419
Sex, no. (%) 
M 24 (62) 28 (64) 1.000 18 (60) 21 (52.5) 0.532
F
 15 (38)
 16 (36)
12 (40)
 19 (47.5)
HRP2, ng/mL, GM (SD) 71.3 (10.7) 331.4 (40.7) <0.001 24.1 (4.9) 78.7 (12.2) 0.038
qPCR, parasites/μL, GM (SD)
 2,084.9 (302.5)
 7,976.1 (1,079.6)
 0.004
72,845.9 (7,193.9)
 94,099.6 (8,716.0)
 0.549
Splenomegaly, no. (%)
No 33 (85) 21 (48) 0.001 ND 27 (67.5) NA
Yes
 6 (15)
 23 (52)
ND
 13 (32.5)
Hepatomegaly, no. (%)
No 38 (97) 35 (80) 0.016 ND 35 (87.5) NA
Yes
 1 (3)
 9 (20)
ND
 5 (12.5)
Hyperlactatemia, no. (%)
No 10 (26) 5 (11) 0.152 26 (86.7) 27 (67.5) 0.064
Yes
 29 (74)
 39 (89)
4 (13.3)
 13 (32.5)
Temperature, ºC, mean (SD) 38.0 (1.6) 38.5 (1.1) 0.093 38.0 (1.3) 38.2 (1.4) 0.437
Weight, kg, mean (SD) 11.3 (2.8) 11.0 (2.8) 0.599 12.3 (2.9) 12.7 (3.3) 0.476
Platelets, 109/L, mean (SD) 156.7 (86.8) 115.8 (66.8) 0.018 149.0 (89.7) 95.3 (69.3) 0.001
Glucose, mM, mean (SD)‡ 6.2 (1.5) 5.9 (1.8) 0.391 6.6 (1.3) 6.0 (2.6) 0.165
WBC, 109/L, mean (SD) 9.9 (4.1) 10.2 (3.9) 0.774 9.7 (3.8) 9.6 (5.0) 0.929
Neutrophils, %, mean (SD)§ 54.1 (16.7) 54.4 (14.3) 0.940 50.7 (20.6) 58.9 (13.7) 0.447
Lymphocytes, %, mean (SD)¶ 39.4 (17.9) 36.3 (12.6) 0.374 26.1 (17.1) 25.6 (12.2) 0.995
Lactate, mM, mean (SD)
 3.0 (1.7)
 4.7 (3.6)
 0.009
2.8 (2.2)
 3.6 (2.4)
 0.035
Severe malaria syndromes, no. (%)
Prostration 33 (75.0) 30 (75.0)
Acute respiratory distress 18 (40.9) 19 (47.5)
Severe anemia 17 (38.6) 7 (17.5)
Multiple seizures 11 (25.0) 24 (60.0)
Cerebral malaria 2 (4.5) 7 (17.5)
Hypoglycemia 2 (4.5) 2 (5.0)

*Data were gathered in a discovery study in 2006 and validation study in 2014. GM, geometric mean; HRP2, histidine-rich protein 2: NA, not applicable; ND, not determined; SM, severe malaria; UM, uncomplicated malaria; WBC, white blood cells.
†No data for 1 sample (UM = 1) in 2014 study.
‡No data for 3 samples (SM = 2; UM = 1) in 2014 study.
§No data for 4 samples (SM = 4) in 2014 study.
¶No data for 3 samples (SM = 3) in 2014 study.

Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

2Current affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

3These senior authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: December 10, 2020
Page updated: January 23, 2021
Page reviewed: January 23, 2021
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