title: Studies on malaria in Papua New Guinea: comparison of the surface glycoproteins on red blood cells from infected and uninfected individuals.
abstract: The levels of erythrocyte membrane sialic acid from 17 patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria and 1 with Plasmodium vivax malaria, in Papua New Guinea, have been compared with 9 uninfected controls. The amounts of radioactivity incorporated into the major erythrocyte glycoproteins by the periodate/NaB3H4 or galactose oxidase plus neuraminidase/NaB3H4 methods were unchanged by malaria infection. The electrophoretic mobilities of these proteins also were unaffected. Several new glycoprotein bands with molecular weights (mol. wt) of 160,000, 89,000, 46,000, 42,000 and 33,000 Daltons were labelled on the surface of erythrocytes from infected individuals; however, none of these bands appeared in all malarious samples. Sialic acid levels on the erythrocyte membrane were also measured by exhaustive neuraminidase treatment and quantitative assay of released sialic acid. The amount of sialic acid was raised in 1 infected individual, within the normal range for Europeans in 4 others, and below this range with 3 patients. Apparently, extensive removal or modification of sialic acid on the surface of uninfected erythrocytes does not occur in human malaria, in contrast to the results obtained in earlier studies with the lethal murine malarias.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000032:analysis*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D012794:Sialic Acids / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012794:Sialic Acids