Adaptive NK cells in people exposed to Plasmodium falciparum correlate with protection from malaria
Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: How antibodies naturally acquired during Plasmodium falciparum infection provide clinical immunity to blood-stage malaria is unclear. We studied the function of natural killer (NK) cells in people living in a malaria-endemic region of Mali. Multi-parameter flow cytometry revealed a high proportion of adaptive NK cells, which are defined by the loss of transcription factor PLZF and Fc receptor γ-chain. Adaptive NK cells dominated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity responses, and their frequency within total NK cells correlated with lower parasitemia and resistance to malaria. P. falciparum–infected RBCs induced NK cell degranulation after addition of plasma from malaria-resistant individuals. Malaria-susceptible subjects with the largest increase in PLZF-negative NK cells during the transmission season had improved odds of resistance during the subsequent season. Thus, antibody-dependent lysis of P. falciparum–infected RBCs by NK cells may be a mechanism of acquired immunity to malaria. Consideration of antibody-dependent NK cell responses to P. falciparum antigens is therefore warranted in the design of malaria vaccines.
DOI: 10.1084/jem.20181681
Institutions: National Institutes of Health, University of Minnesota, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indiana University School of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako, Malaria Research and Training Center
Language: English
Topic: Malaria Research and Control
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2938281770