Sandra Cristina Nunes Pinto contributed to a major study led by Miguel Soares (GIMM), recently published in Science (AAAS).
The international team uncovered the role for bilirubin, a molecule long considered just a byproduct of red blood cell breakdown. The research shows that bilirubin helps protect against malaria, acting directly on the 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 parasite inside red blood cells.
By disrupting the parasite’s metabolism and its ability to detoxify heme, unconjugated bilirubin reduces the severity of infection.
These findings suggest that what we often identify as “jaundice” – an accumulation of bilirubin in the blood – may not be solely a sign of liver dysfunction, but also part of an evolutionarily conserved defense mechanism against malaria.
The study raises important questions about the trade-offs in human biology between metabolic defense and disease.
Read the full paper here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq6741