Passive modulation of antigenic expression in the surface of normal and malaria-infected erythrocytes

Dror Baruch, Z. Ioav Cabantchik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The membranes of Plasmodium falciparum-infected human red blood cells contain antigens of demonstrably cryptic character. We show here, by a cell surface radioimmunoassay using anti-human red cell membrane antisera, that raising the membrane microviscosity of intact cells leads to a marked increase in the cell surface antigen reactivity of normal cells, and even more so in cells infected in vitro with two strains of P. falciparum. A variety of sera from adults and children living in endemic areas and from malaria patients, all of which showed no detectable surface reactivity with either normal or infected red cells, were demonstrably surface-reactive to infected cells whose sterol membrane content has been raised by means conservative of cell integrity. New epitopes become exposed on the surface of infected cells after lipid modification. The present studies indicate that the reduced membrane viscosity reported in malaria-infected cells determines to a considerable extent the expression of cell surface antigens of both host and parasite, and could play a significant role in parasite immune evasion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)127-137
Number of pages11
JournalMolecular and Biochemical Parasitology
Volume36
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1989

Keywords

  • Antigen
  • Erythrocyte
  • Malaria
  • Membrane
  • Microviscosity
  • Plasmodium falciparum

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