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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Judith Bulmer
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Recent evidence suggests that pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM), associated with maternal anemia and low birth weight, results from preferential sequestration of parasitized red blood cells (pRBC) in the placenta via binding of variant surface antigens (VSA) expressed on the surface of pRBC to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). The VSA mediating CSA binding (VSACSA) and thus sequestration of pRBC in the placenta are antigenically distinct from those that mediate pRBC sequestration elsewhere in the body, and it has been suggested that VSACSA are relatively conserved and may thus constitute an attractive target for vaccination against PAM. Using flow cytometry, levels of antibody to VSA and VSACSA expressed on the surface of red blood cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum isolates were measured during pregnancy and lactation in Ghanaian primigravid women enrolled in a trial of maternal vitamin A supplementation. Antibody responses to VSA CSA were detected within the first trimester of pregnancy and increased with increasing duration of pregnancy, and they seemed to be isolate specific, indicating that different CSA-adherent parasite lines express antigenically distinct VSA and thus may not be as antigenically conserved as has been previously suggested. Levels of anti-VSACSA were not significantly associated with placental malarial infection determined by histology, indicating that primary immune responses to VSACSA may not be sufficient to eradicate placental parasitemia in primigravidae. Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Author(s): Cox SE, Staalsoe T, Arthur P, Bulmer JN, Hviid L, Yeboah-Antwi K, Kirkwood BR, Riley EM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Infection and Immunity
Year: 2005
Volume: 73
Issue: 5
Pages: 2841-2847
ISSN (print): 0019-9567
ISSN (electronic): 1098-5522
Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.73.5.2841-2847.2005
DOI: 10.1128/IAI.73.5.2841-2847.2005
PubMed id: 15845489
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