{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,12]],"date-time":"2026-05-12T06:32:46Z","timestamp":1778567566047,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,13]],"date-time":"2023-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1678665600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003339","name":"Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient\u00edficas","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003339","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The co-occurrence and the similarities between malaria and COVID-19 diseases raise the question of whether SARS-CoV-2 is capable of infecting red blood cells and, if so, whether these cells represent a competent niche for the virus. In this study, we first tested whether CD147 functions as an alternative receptor of SARS-CoV-2 to infect host cells. Our results show that transient expression of ACE2 but not CD147 in HEK293T allows SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses entry and infection. Secondly, using a SARS-CoV-2 wild type virus isolate we tested whether the new coronavirus could bind and enter erythrocytes. Here, we report that 10,94% of red blood cells had SARS-CoV-2 bound to the membrane or inside the cell. Finally, we hypothesized that the presence of the malaria parasite, <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic>, could make erythrocytes more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to red blood cell membrane remodelling. However, we found a low coinfection rate (9,13%), suggesting that <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> would not facilitate the entry of SARS-CoV-2 virus into malaria-infected erythrocytes. Besides, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> blood culture did not affect the survival or growth rate of the malaria parasite. Our results are significant because they do not support the role of CD147 in SARS-CoV-2 infection, and indicate, that mature erythrocytes would not be an important reservoir for the virus in our body, although they can be transiently infected.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2023.1120298","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,13]],"date-time":"2023-03-13T10:44:38Z","timestamp":1678704278000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Exploring SARS-CoV-2 and Plasmodium falciparum coinfection in human erythrocytes"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Diana","family":"L\u00f3pez-Farf\u00e1n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nerea","family":"Irigoyen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elena","family":"G\u00f3mez-D\u00edaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is a functional receptor for the SARS coronavirus\n            LiW\n            MooreMJ\n            VasllievaN\n            SuiJ\n            WongSK\n            BerneMA\n          2003"},{"key":"B2","unstructured":"A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin\n            ZhouP\n            YangX-L\n            WangX-G\n            HuB\n            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