Pregnancy malaria (PM) is a major public health problem associated with severe maternal anemia, preeclampsia, pregnancy loss, low birthweight delivery and infant mortality. PM is caused by sequestration in the placenta of parasites that bind the receptor chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). Previous ex vivo experiments have shown that parasite binding to CSA can be inhibited by antibodies from multigravida women who acquired specific immunity to CSA-binding parasites, or by antibodies from animals immunized with antigens that mediate parasite binding to CSA.

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6
Fiscal Year
2017
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Fried, Michal; Kurtis, Jonathan D; Swihart, Bruce et al. (2018) Antibody levels to recombinant VAR2CSA domains vary with Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia, gestational age, and gravidity, but do not predict pregnancy outcomes. Malar J 17:106
Fried, Michal; Duffy, Patrick E (2017) Malaria during Pregnancy. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 7:
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Saveria, Tracy; Oleinikov, Andrew V; Wiliamson, Kathryn et al. (2013) Antibodies to Escherichia coli-expressed C-terminal domains of Plasmodium falciparum variant surface antigen 2-chondroitin sulfate A (VAR2CSA) inhibit binding of CSA-adherent parasites to placental tissue. Infect Immun 81:1031-9
Obiakor, Harold; Avril, Marion; Macdonald, Nicholas J et al. (2013) Identification of VAR2CSA domain-specific inhibitory antibodies of the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 using a novel flow cytometry assay. Clin Vaccine Immunol 20:433-42