Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection results in exacerbated immune responses from C57BL/6 mice displaying hypothalamic obesity

•MSG-obese mice were able to better control the parasitemia compared to lean mice.•Obese mice succumb from Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection earlier than lean mice.•Obese mice display different patterns of cytokine production after ANKA infection.

Graphical abstractMSG-obese mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA produce high levels of pro inflammatory cytokines that could be activating leukocytes, leading to parasite elimination by itself or with other unknown mechanisms. However, this strong inflammatory process might be inducing brain damage and mice death. Dashed black arrow represents unknown mechanisms. Dashed red arrows represent hypothetical effects.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide