Background
Severe malaria is defined as
Plasmodium falciparum asexual parasitaemia in combination with one or more of the following complications: impaired consciousness, prostration, multiple convulsions, acidosis, hypoglycaemia, severe malarial anaemia, renal impairment, jaundice, pulmonary oedema, significant bleeding, shock or hyperparasitaemia [
1]. Moreover, severe
Plasmodium vivax and
Plasmodium knowlesi malaria are classified similarly to falciparum malaria, except that parasite density criteria are not used [
1].
Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a critical regulator of inflammation because it is involved in a variety of innate immune responses [
2]. According to the human sequencing algorithm technology, the IL-1 family includes 11 members: IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-1Ra, IL-18, IL-33, IL-36α, IL-36β, IL-36γ, IL-36Ra, IL-37 and IL-38, all of which have comparable or unique biological effects [
3,
4]. There are two distinct forms of IL-1, IL-1α and IL-1β, which demonstrate similar biological functions [
5]. Although IL-1α and IL-1β share only 27% amino acid sequence homology, they are physically similar and accomplish the same functions through the IL-1 type 1 receptor [
6,
7]. IL-1β is primarily synthesized by macrophages, epithelial cells, fibroblasts and endothelial cells in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns or damage-associated molecular patterns that signal through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) [
8]. IL-1β is expressed in a variety of tissues and cells, but is particularly abundant in macrophages and lymphoid organs, such as the bone marrow, thymus, spleen and lymph nodes. Additionally, it is secreted by non-lymphoid organs such as the digestive system, lung and liver [
9,
10]. IL-1β is synthesized as a 269 amino acid precursor protein that is proteolytically cleaved by caspase-1 or other serine proteases activated during inflammation into the active form, which has 153 amino acids at the C-terminus [
5,
11‐
15]. Significant effects of IL-1β include the following: (1) induction of endothelial cells; (2) activation of neutrophil diapedesis and (3) stimulation of cytokine production in the lymphocytes (T and B) [
8].
IL-1β is a proinflammatory cytokine that has a role in disease-related inflammation, fever and discomfort [
16,
17]. It participates in cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation and death [
18]. Additionally, IL-1β plays a key role in homeostasis, regulating appetite, sleep and body temperature [
19]. High levels of IL-1β have been observed in patients with bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections; several forms of malignancies; autoimmune disorders; trauma (surgery); ischaemic illnesses (myocardial infarction) and UV radiation [
19]. Studies on IL-1β in the context of malaria are limited and the results are inconsistent; therefore, conclusions on IL-1β in various types of malaria are unclear. Therefore, meta-analyses to assess differences in IL-1β levels between various types of malaria, including between patients with severe malaria, patients with uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls were performed. The findings of this study will inform future research on IL-1β and its function in malaria infection and severity.
Methods
Protocol and search strategy
PRISMA standards were used to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis (Additional files
10,
11) [
20]. The systematic review was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42022318871). A search of PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE and reference lists was conducted for articles providing data on IL-1β levels between patients with severe malaria, patients with uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls between January 1988 and March 2022. Broad search terms ‘(‘Interleukin 1 beta’ OR ‘Interleukin 1beta’ OR ‘IL-1 beta’ OR ‘Interleukin-1 beta’ OR Catabolin) AND (malaria OR plasmodium) were combined as a search strategy for different databases (Additional file
7: Table S1). Relevant article citations were manually searched to ensure that relevant articles were not missed. Additionally, authors of published articles were contacted to get data that could not be extracted directly from the source. The search began on 7 March 2022, and concluded on 20 March 2022.
Eligibility criteria
To be considered for inclusion in the review, articles had to report IL-1β levels among patients with severe malaria, patients with uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls. The following articles were excluded: (i) studies providing data on IL-1β levels in patients with uncomplicated malaria only, (ii) studies providing data on IL-1β levels in pregnancy/cord blood, because these participants had a diverse immune response to malaria infection, (iii) in vitro studies measuring IL-1β production, (iv) studies from which IL-1β data could not be extracted, (v) conference abstracts on IL-1β, (vi) studies providing data on IL-1β levels in patients with asymptomatic malaria only, (vii) studies providing data on IL-1β levels in patients with severe malaria only and (viii) studies providing data on IL-1β levels after malaria treatment.
Study selection and data extraction
The selection procedure began with the examination of titles and abstracts from three databases. The complete text of all qualified articles was then read and compared with the eligibility criteria. Additionally, the reference lists of papers included were evaluated to confirm that no study was omitted. Two authors (AM and MK) independently reviewed articles for inclusion and extracted data based on the following: first author name, publication year, research location, country, age range, number of patients, Plasmodium spp., IL-1β levels, technique used for diagnosing malaria and method used for quantifying IL-1β. Disagreements between the two authors were settled by consensus-building conversations.
Critical appraisal
The quality of all studies included in this review was determined using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies [
21]. Each study was evaluated on 22 items; a score of 1 (yes) or 0 (no) was awarded to each item and the aggregate of all values generated an overall quality score ranging from 0 to 22. The summed scores were classed as having high (> 75 percentile), moderate (50–75 percentile) or low (< 50 percentile) quality based on the total score.
Data syntheses
The evidence was synthesized quantitatively and qualitatively. The differences in IL-1 levels across participant groups were recounted narratively for qualitative synthesis. For quantitative synthesis, the mean difference (MD) in IL-1β levels across groups of participants was calculated using a random effects meta-analysis, which is a type of meta-analysis where each study is weighted according to variations between and within studies. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of IL-1β levels were used to calculate MD in IL-1β levels between studies. When the median or interquartile range (IQR) was reported in the studies, the mean and SD were computed using the previously established approach [
22]. If just SD was missing from the study, SD was derived from one or more studies with comparable mean values [
23]. The degree of heterogeneity was determined using Cochran’s Q statistic and the
I2 statistic. The forest plot was used to depict the MDs and confidence intervals (CIs). Outliers were detected using the leave-one-out strategy, which involved iteratively rerunning meta-analysis and deleting studies. The publication bias was assessed by visualizing funnel plot symmetry. The funnel plot would be asymmetric in case of publication bias [
24,
25]. Egger’s test was used to assess funnel plot symmetry [
25]. Egger’s test with statistical significance (
p < 0.05) might indicate that funnel plot asymmetry was due to a small-study effect [
26]. A contour-enhanced funnel plot was used to explore the cause (s) of funnel plot symmetry [
27]. To investigate potential sources of variation, research designs, study sites,
Plasmodium spp., age groups and methodologies for IL-1β measurement were used as covariates. Stata, version 17, was used to analyse the data (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX).
Discussion
The meta-analysis confirmed that patients with severe malaria had higher IL-1β levels than those with uncomplicated malaria. Studies have indicated that IL-1β plays a crucial role in parasite clearance when combined with other cytokines, including interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), IL-2, IL-12 and TNF-α [
48‐
50]. In the recent meta-analysis, significantly increased TNF-α [
51] and decreased IL-12 levels were found in patients with severe malaria compared with patients with uncomplicated malaria. These results indicate that increased TNF-α and IL-1β production contributes to the pathogenesis of severe malaria. However, the overall meta-analysis result confirmed higher IL-1β levels than those in uncomplicated malaria. There were high levels of heterogeneity in IL-1β levels in the studies included in the meta-analysis (90.41%). The meta-regression analysis was used to test whether study design, continents,
Plasmodium spp., age group and method for IL-1β quantification were confounders in the meta-analysis. Unfortunately, only
Plasmodium spp. was a candidate confounder in the meta-analysis, and the results showed no difference in IL-1β levels between patients with severe and uncomplicated malaria caused by
P. falciparum based on 4 studies [
30,
32,
33,
44]. Because a limited number of studies were included in the meta-analysis, it could not be conclude that the infection by different
Plasmodium spp. causes differences in IL-1β levels. There was a possibility that infection with different
Plasmodium spp. may cause differences in IL-1β levels. For example, there was a low detection rate of IL-1β levels in patients infected with
P. knowlesi,
P. vivax and
P. falciparum; however, the rate was higher for patients infected with
P. falciparum than
P. vivax and
P. knowlesi [
29]. Further studies are needed to confirm the differences in
Plasmodium spp. and different cytokine levels in malaria severity.
In the literature, inconsistent reports exist on the influence of IL-1β on malaria severity. Studies have reported an increase in IL-1β in patients with severe malaria, notably cerebral malaria [
31,
35]. In cerebral malaria, increased IL-1β production was shown to associate with malaria pathogenesis [
52,
53]. Increased IL-1β levels in cerebral malaria were either directly or indirectly connected with brain oedema [
54]. Vogetseder et al. reported that anti-malarial therapy for 5 d decreased IL-1β levels in patients with severe malaria, indicating that increased IL-1β levels involve malaria severity [
55]. However, some studies indicated that no statistically significant differences in IL-1β levels existed between patients with different severity of malaria and healthy controls [
28,
30]. Lyke et al. suggested that no correlation between IL-1β levels and malaria severity might be because IL-1β was downregulated by IL-10 [
33].
Meta-analysis results confirmed that patients with uncomplicated malaria had comparable IL-1β levels to healthy controls. Nevertheless, a high level of heterogeneity in IL-1β levels was observed in the studies included in the meta-analysis (98.93%). The meta-regression analysis was used to test whether study design, continents,
Plasmodium spp., age group and method for IL-1β quantification were confounder in the meta-analysis. We found that the method for IL-1β quantification was a confounder in the meta-analysis, and the results showed higher IL-1β levels in uncomplicated malaria than healthy controls in studies using both the bead-based assay and ELISA for IL-1β quantification. There was a difference in pooled MD in studies using the bead-based assay (0.48 pg/mL) and those using ELISA (3.54 pg/mL) for IL-1β quantification. The reason for the difference in the performance of the bead-based assay and ELISA for the detection of IL-1β is unknown. The bead-based assay is suitable for detection of several cytokines in a single platform, and ELISA can detect only one cytokine in a single platform [
56]. Therefore, bead-based assays are preferred for screening several cytokines and may become increasingly commonplace [
57].
The study has limitations. First, although changes in IL-1β levels in several groups of patients were examined, each cytokine performs a distinct function and contributes to a complex cytokine network. Therefore, predicting an association between cytokine levels and malaria severity is challenging. Second, the heterogeneity of outcome between the studies included in the meta-analysis may restrict the conclusion reached. The study was also limited due to publication bias, as indicated by the funnel plot. Third, publication bias was caused due to small-study effects in the meta-analysis of MDs between patients with uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls, indicating the need for more studies providing data on IL-1β levels in the meta-analysis. Fourth, the meta-analysis results revealing a higher mean of IL-1β levels in severe malaria compared with uncomplicated malaria had more certainty than those demonstrating a difference in mean IL-1β levels between patients with uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls. Fifth, the study excluded studies with pregnant women from the analysis. Future studies to determine differences in IL-1β levels in malaria in pregnancy are suggested, because pregnant women are a frequently neglected and highly vulnerable population.
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