B Cell Memory to 3 Plasmodium falciparum Blood-Stage Antigens in a Malaria-Endemic Area
Date
2005-05Author
Dorfman, Jeffrey R.
Bejon, Philip
Ndungu, Francis M.
Langhorne, Jean
Kortok, Moses Mosobo
Lowe, Brett S.
Mwangi, Tabitha
Williams, Thomas N.
Marsh, Kevin
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Show full item recordAbstract
To gain insight into why antibody responses to malarial antigens tend to be short lived, we studied antigenspecific
memory B cells from donors in an area where malaria is endemic.We compared antibody and memory
B cell responses to tetanus toxoid with those to 3 Plasmodium falciparum candidate vaccine antigens: the Cterminal
portion of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP119), apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1), and the cysteinerich
interdomain region 1a (CIDR1a) of a protein from the P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1
(PfEMP1) family. These data are the first to be generated on memory B cells in children who are in the process
of acquiring antimalarial immunity, and they reveal defects in B cell memory to P. falciparum antigens.
Compared with the results for tetanus toxoid, more donors who were positive for antibody to AMA1 and
CIDR1a were negative for memory B cells. These data imply that some exposures to malaria do not result
in the establishment of stable populations of circulating antigen-specific memory B cells, suggesting possible
mechanisms for the short-lived nature of many anti-malarial antibody responses.