{"id":76755,"date":"2025-10-24T10:17:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=76755"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:17:20","slug":"the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"The hidden life of pericytes: understanding how cerebral malaria breaks the blood-brain barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Cerebral malaria is a deadly complication of <em>Plasmodium falciparum<\/em> infection. Despite cutting-edge research, effective anti-malarial drugs, and the promise of a vaccine, it still claims over half a million lives every year. Many survivors of cerebral malaria suffer long-term disabilities such as epilepsy, speech disorders, or difficulties in movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a new study published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embopress.org\/doi\/full\/10.1038\/s44321-025-00319-y?_gl=1*1gae9da*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI5NzQ0NDk4Ni4xNzYxMDQ4Njg0*_ga_D692E1CL8S*czE3NjEwNDg2ODMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjEwNDg2ODMkajYwJGwwJGgw\"><em>EMBO Molecular Medicine<\/em><\/a>, researchers at EMBL Barcelona highlight malaria-induced disruption of pericytes \u2013 cells present along the walls of capillaries \u2013 bringing us a step closer to understanding how cerebral malaria damages the brain, and how these damages could be prevented or reversed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cerebral malaria infection causes severe damage to the brain\u2019s delicate blood vessels. A central player in this damage is the angiopoietin-Tie signalling pathway, which normally helps blood vessels stay stable, tight, and protected. The normal functioning of this pathway depends on the secretion of a molecule called angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) by pericytes. Patients with cerebral malaria often show an imbalance in this pathway: too much of the destabilising molecule angiopoietin-2 and too little of the protective Ang-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn this study, we generated an advanced 3D human brain microvasculature model that reproduces important <em>in vivo<\/em> interactions between human brain endothelial cells and pericytes,\u201d said Rory Long, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Bernabeu Group at EMBL Barcelona and first author of the work. \u201cWe show that disruption of the crucial role of pericytes in protecting and restoring the blood vessels promotes blood-brain barrier damage during cerebral malaria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team of researchers built a 3D human blood-brain barrier on a chip and recreated key features of the brain\u2019s vascular (blood-vessel-related) environment. When they exposed this model to malaria parasite byproducts, Ang-1 secretion was halted, vessels became leaky, and the pericytes themselves showed subtle damage. When the researchers added back Ang-1, they were able to partially restore vascular stability, highlighting a connection between decreased Ang-1 secretion and blood-brain barrier breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To address the urgent need for novel adjunctive treatments against cerebral malaria, the authors then examined the therapeutic potential of the angiopoietin-Tie pathway by using AKB-9778, a drug that boosts Tie-2 activity and is currently in clinical trials for diabetic retinopathy. They found that a short pre-treatment of the 3D blood-brain barrier model with AKB-9778 partially prevented malaria-infected red blood cells from disrupting vasculature integrity. Hence, this study identified AKB-9778 and, more broadly, the restoration of pericyte homeostatic function as an exciting new avenue in cerebral malaria treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur bioengineered vascular model is a physiologically relevant platform to test additional therapies for cerebral malaria,\u201d said Maria Bernabeu, EMBL Group Leader and senior author of the publication. \u201cExperimental rodent studies are not ideal for therapeutic discovery, as malaria affects species differently. Our findings pave the way to identify new therapeutics for cerebral malaria patients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers built a 3D human blood-brain barrier and discovered a key role of brain pericytes in cerebral malaria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":76757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17591],"tags":[497,984,5630,330,12736,431],"embl_taxonomy":[19173,9762,19021,5154],"class_list":["post-76755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-barcelona","tag-bernabeu","tag-cerebral-malaria","tag-malaria","tag-organ-on-chip","tag-tissue-biology","embl_taxonomy-bernabeu-group","embl_taxonomy-embl-barcelona","embl_taxonomy-maria-bernabeu-aznar","embl_taxonomy-tissue-biology-and-disease-modelling"],"acf":{"vfwp-news_embl_taxonomy":[5154,19173,19021,9762],"featured":true,"show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"article_intro":"<p>Researchers have built a 3D human blood-brain barrier in the lab and discovered a key role of brain pericytes in cerebral malaria disease<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Bernabeu Group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/groups\/bernabeu\/"},{"link_description":"Cerebral malaria: new study shows how the malaria parasite opens the way to the brain","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/cerebral-malaria-new-study-shows-how-the-malaria-parasite-opens-the-way-to-the-brain\/"}],"source_article":[{"publication_title":"Plasmodium falciparum impairs Ang-1 secretion by pericytes in a 3D brain microvessel model.","publication_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.embopress.org\/doi\/full\/10.1038\/s44321-025-00319-y","target":""},"publication_authors":"Long KM R., et al.","publication_source":"EMBO Molecular Medicine","publication_date":"16 October 2025","publication_doi":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s44321-025-00319-y"}],"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"None","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"18a7a17b-e276-4afd-b0ca-8ddac1883d45\";i:2;s:36:\"71aeb1fd-6b3c-4f66-bae8-a09e9fbedf58\";}","parents":[],"name":["Bernabeu Group"],"slug":"bernabeu-group","description":"What &gt; Tissue biology and disease modelling &gt; Bernabeu Group"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"762176bb-d12e-4c94-8964-6dbb76e15c42\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Barcelona"],"slug":"embl-barcelona","description":"Where &gt; All EMBL sites &gt; EMBL Barcelona"},{"uuid":"a:2:{i:0;s:36:\"4428d1fd-441a-4d6d-a1c5-5dcf5665f213\";i:1;s:36:\"3df4726b-ca23-445c-913f-d70d0e7a2642\";}","parents":[],"name":["Maria Bernabeu Aznar"],"slug":"maria-bernabeu-aznar","description":"Who &gt; Maria Bernabeu Aznar"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"7ca3ce91-dc32-47ea-8d4b-7a53c3a3a9fd\";i:2;s:36:\"18a7a17b-e276-4afd-b0ca-8ddac1883d45\";}","parents":[],"name":["Tissue biology and disease modelling"],"slug":"tissue-biology-and-disease-modelling","description":"What &gt; Research Units &gt; Tissue biology and disease modelling"}],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The hidden life of pericytes: understanding how cerebral malaria breaks the blood-brain barrier | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers built a 3D human blood-brain barrier and discovered a key role of brain pericytes in cerebral malaria.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The hidden life of pericytes: understanding how cerebral malaria breaks the blood-brain barrier | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers built a 3D human blood-brain barrier and discovered a key role of brain pericytes in cerebral malaria.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T08:17:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T08:17:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251021_vessel_1000x600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carla Manzanas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carla Manzanas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carla Manzanas\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/40c2c3096ae3f56b1304b22fb8c0efb1\"},\"headline\":\"The hidden life of pericytes: understanding how cerebral malaria breaks the blood-brain barrier\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-24T08:17:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-24T08:17:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science-technology\/the-hidden-life-of-pericytes-understanding-how-cerebral-malaria-breaks-the-blood-brain-barrier\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251021_vessel_1000x600.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"barcelona\",\"bernabeu\",\"cerebral malaria\",\"malaria\",\"organ on chip\",\"tissue biology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; 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