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High Levels of Antibodies to Multiple Domains and Strains of VAR2CSA Correlate with the Absence of Placental Malaria in Cameroonian Women Living in an Area of High Plasmodium falciparum Transmission
- Source :
- Infection and Immunity; Vol 80
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY, 2012.
-
Abstract
- Placental malaria, caused by sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum -infected erythrocytes in the placenta, is associated with increased risk of maternal morbidity and poor birth outcomes. The parasite antigen VAR2CSA (variant surface antigen 2-chondroitin sulfate A) is expressed on infected erythrocytes and mediates binding to chondroitin sulfate A, initiating inflammation and disrupting homeostasis at the maternal-fetal interface. Although antibodies can prevent sequestration, it is unclear whether parasite clearance is due to antibodies to a single Duffy binding-like (DBL) domain or to an extensive repertoire of antibodies to multiple DBL domains and allelic variants. Accordingly, plasma samples collected longitudinally from pregnant women were screened for naturally acquired antibodies against an extensive panel of VAR2CSA proteins, including 2 to 3 allelic variants for each of 5 different DBL domains. Analyses were performed on plasma samples collected from 3 to 9 months of pregnancy from women living in areas in Cameroon with high and low malaria transmission. The results demonstrate that high antibody levels to multiple VAR2CSA domains, rather than a single domain, were associated with the absence of placental malaria when antibodies were present from early in the second trimester until term. Absence of placental malaria was associated with increasing antibody breadth to different DBL domains and allelic variants in multigravid women. Furthermore, the antibody responses of women in the lower-transmission site had both lower magnitude and lesser breadth than those in the high-transmission site. These data suggest that immunity to placental malaria results from high antibody levels to multiple VAR2CSA domains and allelic variants and that antibody breadth is influenced by malaria transmission intensity.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Placenta Diseases
Placenta
030231 tropical medicine
Immunology
Plasmodium falciparum
Protozoan Proteins
Antibodies, Protozoan
Antigens, Protozoan
Microbiology
Plasmodium
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
0302 clinical medicine
Antigen
Immunity
Pregnancy
parasitic diseases
medicine
Humans
Cameroon
Allele
Malaria, Falciparum
030304 developmental biology
0303 health sciences
biology
biology.organism_classification
medicine.disease
Virology
3. Good health
Infectious Diseases
medicine.anatomical_structure
Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic
biology.protein
Parasitology
Female
Antibody
Fungal and Parasitic Infections
Malaria
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00199567
- Volume :
- 80
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Infection and Immunity
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....360421c6999f10caa9914225ec50756a
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.00071-12