Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum expresses on the host erythrocyte surface clonally variant antigens and ligands that mediate adherence to endothelial receptors. Both are central to pathogenesis, since they allow chronicity of infection and lead to concentration of infected erythrocytes in cerebral vessels. Here we show that expression of variant antigenic determinants is correlated with expression of individual members of a large, multigene family named var. Each var gene contains copies of a motif that has been previously shown to bind diverse host receptors; expression of a specific var gene correlated with binding to ICAM-1. Thus, our findings are consistent with the involvement of var genes in antigenic variation and binding to endothelium.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 101-110 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Cell |
Volume | 82 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 14 Jul 1995 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Correspondence should be addressed to C. I. N. and L. H. M. We thank members of the laboratories of Thomas Wellems and Russell Howard for sharing results and for discussion of data prior to publication; Dr. David Alling and Ms. Claire Hallahan for statistical analysis of RT-PCR results and for graphing RT-PCR and agglutination results; and Mr. Peter Warn for growth of P. falciparum isolates and extraction of RNA. C. I. N., A. G. C., and D. J. R. gratefully acknowledge financial support from The Wellcome Trust.