The role of variant surface antigens on malaria-infected red blood cells.
It has been proposed that the primary role of variant antigens appearing on the surface of red blood cells infected with malaria parasites is to mediate cytoadherence, and that the antigenic variation they display is an adaptation to avoid immune attack. Here, Allan Saul proposes that their role is the opposite: that their primary purpose is to generate an immune response, which regulates their growth and thereby establishes a chronic infection, and that the role of cytoadherence is to ensure that parasites failing to express this flag to the immune system are destroyed by the spleen.
Saul
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Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane Qld 4029, Australia. allanS@qimr.edu.au
D000818:Animals; D000940:Antigenic Variation / Q000276:immunology*; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000276:immunology; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000276:immunology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000276:immunology
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C085731:erythrocyte membrane protein 1, Plasmodium falciparum