Host-Pathogen Interactions in the Plasmodium-Infected Mouse Liver at Spatial and Single-Cell Resolution (VISIUM)

During liver infection, the malaria parasite undergoes massive replication whilst remaining clinically silent. Spatial coordination of immune response regulation and metabolic zonation during malaria infection in the true tissue context remains unexplored. We perform spatial transcriptomics combined with snRNA-seq over multiple time points to delineate transcriptional programs of host-pathogen interactions across P. berghei-infected liver tissues. Our data suggest changes in gene expression related to lipid metabolism adjacent to infected hepatocytes, particularly modulation of the expression of genes involved in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor pathway signaling. The data further indicates the presence of inflammatory hotspots with differential inflammation programs along the lobular axis in infected tissues. Additionally, upregulation of genes involved in inflammation is observed, but considerably delayed, in livers of control mice injected with mosquito salivary gland components. Our study establishes a benchmark for investigating host-parasite interactions, and can easily be implemented to validate de novo malaria drug and vaccine efforts.