Rapid antigen diversification through mitotic recombination in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Malaria parasites possess the remarkable ability to maintain chronic infections that fail to elicit a protective immune response, characteristics that have stymied vaccine development and cause people living in endemic regions to remain at risk of malaria despite previous exposure to the disease. These traits stem from the tremendous antigenic diversity displayed by parasites circulating in the field. For Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent of the human malaria parasites, this diversity is exemplified by the variant gene family called var, which encodes the major surface antigen displayed on infected red blood cells (RBCs). This gene family exhibits virtually limitless diversity when var gene repertoires from different parasite isolates are compared. Previous studies indicated that th

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6532940 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature