Antibody immunity to Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 and severe malaria

Abstract

Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) proteins are expressed on the surface of the infected erythrocyte (IE). These proteins mediate the adhesion of the parasite IE to host cells which could result in severe forms of malaria. PfEMP1 is a variable protein and consists of several domains. PfEMP1s are encoded by var genes and composed of multiple duffy binding-like (DBL) domains and cysteine-rich inter-domain region (CIDR) domains. PfEMP1s can be classified into groups based on the chromosomal location, transcriptional direction and upstream promotor regions of var genes, the DBL or CIDR domains expressed or the domain cassettes (DC) expressed. DCs are sets of PfEMP1 dom..