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* Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; and
National Institute for Medical Research Tanga Centre, Tanga, Tanzania
Protection against Plasmodium falciparum malaria is largely mediated by IgG against surface Ags such as the erythrocyte membrane protein 1 family (PfEMP1) responsible for antigenic variation and sequestration of infected erythrocytes. PfEMP1 molecules can be divided into groups A, B/A, B, C, and B/C. We have previously suggested that expression of groups A and B/A PfEMP1 is associated with severe disease and that Abs to these molecules are acquired earlier in life than Abs to PfEMP1 belonging to groups B, B/C, and C PfEMP1. In this study, we compared the acquisition of IgG to 20 rPfEMP1 domains derived from 3D7 in individuals living under markedly different malaria transmission intensity and were unable to find differences in the Ab acquisition rate to PfEMP1 of different groupings (A, B, or C) or domain type (
, 
, 
, 
, 
, or x). Abs were acquired early in life in individuals living in the high transmission village and by the age of 2–4 years most individuals had Abs against most constructs. This level of reactivity was found at the age of 10–20 years in the medium transmission village and was never reached by individuals living under low transmission. Nevertheless, the sequence by which individuals acquired Abs to particular constructs was largely the same in the three villages. This indicates that the pattern of PfEMP1 expression by parasites transmitted at the different sites was similar, suggesting that PfEMP1 expression is nonrandom and shaped by host-parasite relationship factors operating at all transmission intensities.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 This work was funded in part by a grant from the Danish Council for Health Science Research (Grant 271-05-0427), a grant from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, and a grant from the Danish International Development Agency (104.DAN.8.L.312). A.T.R.J. is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Anja T. R. Jensen, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Panum Institute 24-2, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark. E-mail address: atrj{at}cmp.dk
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: VSA, variant surface Ag; IE, infected erythrocyte; PfEMP1, P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1; VSASM, VSA severe malaria; VSAUM, VSA uncomplicated malaria; DBL, Duffy binding ligand; CIDR, cysteine-rich interdomain region.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  G. K. K. Cham, L. Turner, J. Lusingu, L. Vestergaard, B. P. Mmbando, J. D. Kurtis, A. T. R. Jensen, A. Salanti, T. Lavstsen, and T. G. Theander Sequential, Ordered Acquisition of Antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1 Domains J. Immunol., September 1, 2009; 183(5): 3356 - 3363. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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