Parasite antigens on the infected red cell surface are targets for naturally acquired immunity to malaria
- 1 March 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Medicine
- Vol. 4 (3), 358-360
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0398-358
Abstract
The feasibility of a malaria vaccine is supported by the fact that children in endemic areas develop naturally acquired immunity to disease. Development of disease immunity is characterized by a decrease in the frequency and severity of disease episodes over several years despite almost continuous infection1, suggesting that immunity may develop through the acquisition of a repertoire of specific, protective antibodies directed against polymorphic target antigens1–3. Plasmodium falciparum erythro-cyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMPI) is a potentially important family of target antigens, because these proteins are inserted into the red cell surface and are prominently exposed4–6 and because they are highly polymorphic and undergo clonal antigenic variation7,8,18, a mechanism of immune evasion maintained by a large family of var genes9–11. In a large prospective study of Kenyan children, we have used the fact that anti-PfEMP1 antibodies agglutinate infected erythrocytes in a variant-specific manner10,12–16, to show that the PfEMPI variants expressed during episodes of clinical malaria were less likely to be recognized by the corresponding child's own preexisting antibody response than by that of children of the same age from the same community. In contrast, a heterologous parasite isolate was just as likely to be recognized. The apparent selective pressure exerted by established anti-PfEMPl antibodies on infecting parasites supports the idea that such responses provide variant-specific protection against disease.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- The large diverse gene family var encodes proteins involved in cytoadherence and antigenic variation of plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytesCell, 1995
- Cloning the P. falciparum gene encoding PfEMP1, a malarial variant antigen and adherence receptor on the surface of parasitized human erythrocytesCell, 1995
- Antigenic Diversity and the Transmission Dynamics of Plasmodium falciparumScience, 1994
- Protection, pathogenesis and phenotypic plasticity in Plasmodium falciparum malariaParasitology Today, 1993
- Plasmodium falciparum: The human agglutinating antibody response to the infected red cell surface is predominantly variant specificExperimental Parasitology, 1992
- Rapid switching to multiple antigenic and adhesive phenotypes in malariaNature, 1992
- Malaria-a neglected disease?Parasitology, 1992
- Cytoadherence by Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes is correlated with the expression of a family of variable proteins on infected erythrocytes.The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1988
- Antigens Induced on Erythrocytes by P. falciparum : Expression of Diverse and Conserved DeterminantsScience, 1986
- Human Malaria Parasites in Continuous CultureScience, 1976