Switches in expression of plasmodium falciparum var genes correlate with changes in antigenic and cytoadherent phenotypes of infected erythrocytes

Joseph D. Smith*, Chetan E. Chitnis, Alistar G. Craig, David J. Roberts, Diana E. Hudson-Taylor, David S. Peterson, Robert Pinches, Chris I. Newbold, Louis H. Miller

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

837 Citations (Scopus)

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-110
Number of pages10
JournalCell
Volume82
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Jul 1995
Externally publishedYes

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.

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