Interaction Between Malaria and Gut Microbiome: A Review of Existing Literature

Malaria causes high mortality and morbidity globally, despite progress stalling due to parasite and vector resistance to current strategies. Hence, alternative interventions like vaccines and microbiome-based interventions are proposed to be useful tools in the fight against malaria. Human gut microbiota has served a central role in health and diseases, and in the last decade has experienced significant scientific interest in its role in malaria. We conducted a descriptive review of 29 microbiome–malaria-focused studies to decipher the interaction between malaria and the gut microbiome. These articles were searched from different databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar within ten years. The interaction between gut microbiome and malaria is bidirectional, with evidence of complexity observed from studies in humans, mice, and rhesus macaques. The microbiome modulates malaria severity through the immune system, with mechanisms including changes in cytokines, humoral immune responses, and parasite-specific antibodies. In addition, several bacteria, particularly those from the phyla Prevotella, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Proteobacteria, and lactic acid bacteria, have been associated with different disease outcomes. Our findings reveal a correlation but not the mechanistic underpinnings of malaria and gut microbiome dysbiosis. We propose more human longitudinal studies using multi-omics system biology approaches to gain insights into the mechanisms of malaria–microbiome dynamics.