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Kanjee, Usheer

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Kanjee

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Usheer

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Kanjee, Usheer
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    Genetic Evidence for Erythrocyte Receptor Glycophorin B Expression Levels Defining a Dominant Plasmodium falciparum Invasion Pathway into Human Erythrocytes
    (American Society for Microbiology, 2017) Dankwa, Selasi; Chaand, Mudit; Kanjee, Usheer; Jiang, Rays H. Y.; Nobre, Luis V.; Goldberg, Jonathan; Bei, Amy; Moechtar, Mischka A.; Gruring, Christof; Ahouidi, Ambroise D.; Ndiaye, Daouda; Dieye, Tandakha N.; Mboup, Souleymane; Weekes, Michael P.; Duraisingh, Manoj
    ABSTRACT Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria, has evolved multiple proteins known as invasion ligands that bind to specific erythrocyte receptors to facilitate invasion of human erythrocytes. The EBA-175/glycophorin A (GPA) and Rh5/basigin ligand-receptor interactions, referred to as invasion pathways, have been the subject of intense study. In this study, we focused on the less-characterized sialic acid-containing receptors glycophorin B (GPB) and glycophorin C (GPC). Through bioinformatic analysis, we identified extensive variation in glycophorin B (GYPB) transcript levels in individuals from Benin, suggesting selection from malaria pressure. To elucidate the importance of the GPB and GPC receptors relative to the well-described EBA-175/GPA invasion pathway, we used an ex vivo erythrocyte culture system to decrease expression of GPA, GPB, or GPC via lentiviral short hairpin RNA transduction of erythroid progenitor cells, with global surface proteomic profiling. We assessed the efficiency of parasite invasion into knockdown cells using a panel of wild-type P. falciparum laboratory strains and invasion ligand knockout lines, as well as P. falciparum Senegalese clinical isolates and a short-term-culture-adapted strain. For this, we optimized an invasion assay suitable for use with small numbers of erythrocytes. We found that all laboratory strains and the majority of field strains tested were dependent on GPB expression level for invasion. The collective data suggest that the GPA and GPB receptors are of greater importance than the GPC receptor, supporting a hierarchy of erythrocyte receptor usage in P. falciparum.
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    Demographic and clinical profiles of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax patients at a tertiary care centre in southwestern India
    (BioMed Central, 2016) Chery, Laura; Maki, Jennifer N.; Mascarenhas, Anjali; Walke, Jayashri T.; Gawas, Pooja; Almeida, Anvily; Fernandes, Mezia; Vaz, Marina; Ramanan, Rakesh; Shirodkar, Diksha; Bernabeu, Maria; Manoharan, Suresh Kumar; Pereira, Ligia; Dash, Rashmi; Sharma, Ambika; Shaik, Riaz Basha; Chakrabarti, Rimi; Babar, Prasad; White, John; Mudeppa, Devaraja G.; Kumar, Shiva; Zuo, Wenyun; Skillman, Kristen; Kanjee, Usheer; Lim, Caeul; Shaw-Saliba, Kathryn; Kumar, Ashwani; Valecha, Neena; Jindal, V. N.; Khandeparkar, Anar; Naik, Pradeep; Amonkar, Sunanda; Duraisingh, Manoj; Tuljapurkar, Shripad; Smith, Joseph D.; Dubhashi, Nagesh; Pinto, Roque G. W.; Silveria, Maria; Gomes, Edwin; Rathod, Pradipsinh K.
    Background: Malaria remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in India. Though many comprehensive studies have been carried out in Africa and Southeast Asia to characterize and examine determinants of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria pathogenesis, fewer have been conducted in India. Methods: A prospective study of malaria-positive individuals was conducted at Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) from 2012 to 2015 to identify demographic, diagnostic and clinical indicators associated with P. falciparum and P. vivax infection on univariate analysis. Results: Between 2012 and 2015, 74,571 febrile individuals, 6287 (8.4%) of whom were malaria positive, presented to GMC. The total number of malaria cases at GMC increased more than two-fold over four years, with both P. vivax and P. falciparum cases present year-round. Some 1116 malaria-positive individuals (mean age = 27, 91% male), 88.2% of whom were born outside of Goa and 51% of whom were construction workers, were enroled in the study. Of 1088 confirmed malaria-positive patients, 77.0% had P. vivax, 21.0% had P. falciparum and 2.0% had mixed malaria. Patients over 40 years of age and with P. falciparum infection were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to be hospitalised than younger and P. vivax patients, respectively. While approximately equal percentages of hospitalised P. falciparum (76.6%) and P. vivax (78.9%) cases presented with at least one WHO severity indicator, a greater percentage of P. falciparum inpatients presented with at least two (43.9%, p < 0.05) and at least three (29.9%, p < 0.01) severity features. There were six deaths among the 182 hospitalised malaria positive patients, all of whom had P. falciparum. Conclusion: During the four year study period at GMC, the number of malaria cases increased substantially and the greatest burden of severe disease was contributed by P. falciparum.
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    Independent Origin and Global Distribution of Distinct Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein Gene Duplications
    (Public Library of Science, 2016) Hostetler, Jessica B.; Lo, Eugenia; Kanjee, Usheer; Amaratunga, Chanaki; Suon, Seila; Sreng, Sokunthea; Mao, Sivanna; Yewhalaw, Delenasaw; Mascarenhas, Anjali; Kwiatkowski, Dominic P.; Ferreira, Marcelo U.; Rathod, Pradipsinh K.; Yan, Guiyun; Fairhurst, Rick M.; Duraisingh, Manoj; Rayner, Julian C.
    Background: Plasmodium vivax causes the majority of malaria episodes outside Africa, but remains a relatively understudied pathogen. The pathology of P. vivax infection depends critically on the parasite’s ability to recognize and invade human erythrocytes. This invasion process involves an interaction between P. vivax Duffy Binding Protein (PvDBP) in merozoites and the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) on the erythrocyte surface. Whole-genome sequencing of clinical isolates recently established that some P. vivax genomes contain two copies of the PvDBP gene. The frequency of this duplication is particularly high in Madagascar, where there is also evidence for P. vivax infection in DARC-negative individuals. The functional significance and global prevalence of this duplication, and whether there are other copy number variations at the PvDBP locus, is unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings Using whole-genome sequencing and PCR to study the PvDBP locus in P. vivax clinical isolates, we found that PvDBP duplication is widespread in Cambodia. The boundaries of the Cambodian PvDBP duplication differ from those previously identified in Madagascar, meaning that current molecular assays were unable to detect it. The Cambodian PvDBP duplication did not associate with parasite density or DARC genotype, and ranged in prevalence from 20% to 38% over four annual transmission seasons in Cambodia. This duplication was also present in P. vivax isolates from Brazil and Ethiopia, but not India. Conclusions/Significance: PvDBP duplications are much more widespread and complex than previously thought, and at least two distinct duplications are circulating globally. The same duplication boundaries were identified in parasites from three continents, and were found at high prevalence in human populations where DARC-negativity is essentially absent. It is therefore unlikely that PvDBP duplication is associated with infection of DARC-negative individuals, but functional tests will be required to confirm this hypothesis.