Flavin-deficient erythrocytes offer protection against malaria parasites.

ABSTRACT: Studies from the 1980s and 1990s conducted in Italy, where malaria was once endemic, hypothesized that individuals with erythrocytes deficient in flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-collectively known as flavins-are partially protected against malaria. The condition was reported to be familial, consistent with a genetic element. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. Using an erythrocyte FAD-dependent glutathione reductase activity assay, we identified individuals with flavin-deficient erythrocytes (FDE) in Ferrara, Italy (23% of 150 individuals screened), and in Huye, Rwanda (13% of 169 individuals). None of the individuals with FDE had a dietary riboflavin deficiency. Importantly, FDE from individuals in Ferrara, as well as erythrocytes depleted of flavi

SUBMITTER: Hemasa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12415205 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature