CHONDROITIN SULFATE-A AS AN ADHERENCE RECEPTOR FOR PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM-INFECTED ERYTHROCYTES

Until recently, the sequestration of erythrocytes infected with Plasmo dium falciparum has been thought to be due to one of a number of prote in-protein interactions. In this article, Stephen Rogerson and Graham Brown summarize the emerging evidence that, in vitro, infected erythro cytes can also adhere to the glycosaminoglycan chondroitin sulphate A (CSA) expressed on the surface of cells and immobilized on plastic. In vivo, binding of infected erythrocytes to CSA could be crucial to the development of material infection of the placenta, and possible to se questration in the lung and brain. The consequences of this may includ e maternal morbidity and mortality, low birth weight in the infant, pu lmonary oedema and cerebral malaria. They discuss the need to characte rize the molecular basis of this interaction, and to investigate the p ossible therapeutic role of CSA in malaria. Chondroitin sulphates are nontoxic compounds already in use for other diseases in humans. Vaccin es based on inhibiting this receptor-ligand interaction could be appro priate.