ABO blood groups influence macrophage-mediated phagocytosis of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.

ABSTRACT: Erythrocyte polymorphisms associated with a survival advantage to Plasmodium falciparum infection have undergone positive selection. There is a predominance of blood group O in malaria-endemic regions, and several lines of evidence suggest that ABO blood groups may influence the outcome of P. falciparum infection. Based on the hypothesis that enhanced innate clearance of infected polymorphic erythrocytes is associated with protection from severe malaria, we investigated whether P. falciparum-infected O erythrocytes are more efficiently cleared by macrophages than infected A and B erythrocytes. We show that human macrophages in vitro and mouse monocytes in vivo phagocytose P. falciparum-infected O erythrocytes more avidly than infected A and B erythrocytes and that uptake is associated with

SUBMITTER: Wolofsky KT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3469569 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature