Human Lysozyme in Malaria Patients: Possible Role as Biomarker for Disease Severity

Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers are used to predict the progress and out-come of several chronic diseases, including neoplastic and non-communicable diseases. Recently, biomarker research has been exploited to accurately discrimi-nate the severe forms of malaria, since no biological tests to confirm the diagnosis of severe malaria and its complications are available so far. In this context, hu-man lysozyme appears as a good candidate. Since its discovery almost one cen-tury ago, several easy-to-handle and cost-effective methods to determine lyso-zyme activity in various samples (plasma, urine, and tissue sections) have been developed. Interestingly, results from two small prospective studies enrolling healthy volunteers and malaria patients from Sudan showed a significant correla-tion between disease severity and lysozyme plasma levels. These promising data encourage further studies employing larger cohorts of patients from different are-as endemic for malaria. Intriguingly, an old molecule such as human lysozyme might reveal itself as a new and effective biomarker for malaria severity.