Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37291657›Full record

ArticleParasites & vectors2023

Why is Babesia not killed by artemisinin like Plasmodium?

Wenwen Si, Chuantao Fang, Chuang Liu, Meng Yin, Wenyue Xu, Yanna Li, Xiaoli Yan, Yujuan Shen, Jianping Cao, Jun Sun

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Parasites & vectors, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
4.9field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Vesicular mechanisms of drug resistance in apicomplexan parasites.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025
    Review
  5. Research progress on diagnostic techniques for differentFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Wenwen Si *Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Chuantao Fang *Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Chuang Liu *Institute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Meng YinNational Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research), Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Wenyue XuDepartment of Pathogenic Biology, Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University), Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
Yanna LiInstitute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Xiaoli YanInstitute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Yujuan ShenNational Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research), Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Jianping CaoNational Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research), Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Jun SunInstitute for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. swksj@tongji.edu.cn.
Tongji University · CNNational Institute for Parasitic Diseases · CNArmy Medical University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Babesia spp. are intraerythrocytic apicomplexans that digest and utilize red blood cells in a similar way to intraerythrocytic Plasmodium spp., but unlike the latter, are not sensitive to artemisinin. A comparison of Babesia and Plasmodium genomes revealed that Babesia genomes, which are smaller than those of Plasmodium, lack numerous genes, and especially haem synthesis-related genes, that are found in the latter. Single-cell sequencing analysis showed that the different treatment groups of Babesia microti with expressed pentose phosphate pathway-related, DNA replication-related, antioxidation-related, glycolysis-related, and glutathione-related genes were not as sensitive to artemether as Plasmodium yoelii 17XNL. In particular, pentose phosphate pathway-related, DNA replication-related, and glutathione-related genes, which were actively expressed in P. yoelii 17XNL, were not actively expressed in B. microti. Supplying iron in vivo can promote the reproduction of B. microti. These results suggest that Babesia spp. lack a similar mechanism to that of malaria parasites through which the haem or iron in hemoglobin is utilized, and that this likely leads to their insensitivity to artemisinin.

Indexed as

ArtemisininsBabesiaBabesiosisPlasmodium yoeliiHemeHumansIronartemisininArtemisininsHemeIronArtemisininBabesiaHaem synthesisPentose phosphate pathwayPlasmodiumSingle-cell sequencing

Identifiers

PMID37291657
PMCPMC10249562
OpenAlexW4379967099

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.