bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.28.446171; this version posted May 28, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Pharmacological activation of PIEZO1 in human red blood cells prevents Plasmodium falciparum invasion Rakhee Lohia1, Jordy Le Guet1, Laurence Berry1, Hélène Guizouarn2, Roberto Bernal3, Rachel Cerdan1, Manouk Abkarian4, Dominique Douguet5, Eric Honoré5*, Kai Wengelnik6* 1 LPHI, University of Montpellier, CNRS UMR5235, Montpellier, France 2 iBV, University Côte d’Azur, CNRS UMR7277, INSERM U1091, Nice, France 3 Departamento de Física, SMAT-C, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile 4 Centre de Biologie Structurale, CNRS UMR5048—INSERM U1054, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France 5 IPMC, University Côte d’Azur, CNRS, INSERM, UMR7275, Labex ICST, Valbonne, France. 6 LPHI, University of Montpellier, CNRS UMR5235, INSERM, Montpellier, France * Correspondence to:
[email protected];
[email protected] Abstract An inherited gain-of–function variant (E756 del) in the mechanosensitive cationic channel PIEZO1 was recently shown to confer a significant protection against severe malaria. Here, we demonstrate in vitro that human red blood cell (RBC) infection by Plasmodium falciparum is prevented by the pharmacological activation of PIEZO1. The PIEZO1 activator Yoda1 inhibits RBC invasion, without affecting parasite intraerythrocytic growth, division or egress. RBC dehydration, echinocytosis and intracellular Na+/K+ imbalance are unrelated to the mechanism of protection. Inhibition of invasion is maintained, even after a prolonged wash out of Yoda1.