A longitudinal study of seroreactivities to Plasmodium falciparum antigens in infants and children living in a holoendemic area of Liberia

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Høgh, Birthe
  • N T Marbiah
  • E Petersen
  • H Perlmann
  • E Dolopaye
  • A P Hanson
  • A Bjorkman
  • P Perlmann

Investigators studied 348 children age 0-10 years, living in a holoendemic area of Liberia, for parasitological, serological and clinical parameters. The age-specific parasite rate increased towards the 7-10 year-old age group in which it was 86.8%. The geometrical mean parasite density decreased from the 3-4 year-old age group, in which fewer episodes of clinical malaria were observed. Antibodies to crude Plasmodium falciparum parasite antigens were detected in all children. The (EENV)6 seropositive rate was a maximum of 67.9% in the 3-11 month-old age group. It declined to a minimum of 31.7% in the 5-6 years age group after which it increased slowly in the 7-10 years age group. Antibodies to the synthetic peptide (NANP)6 showed a steady seropositive rate after the age of 3 months, between 30.0% and 39.3% in all the age groups up to 10 years. No statistically significant correlation was found between seropositivity to (EENV)6 and malarial parasitemia. In contrast, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between seropositivity to (NANP)6 and parasite rates. The antibody response for the individual child was transient to both Pf155/RESA, measured by immunofluorescence, and to (EENV)6 and (NANP)6, measured by ELISA, especially in the younger age groups of this study population. Parasitological and clinical immunity developed before a stable antibody response to these defined malaria antigens was established. These antibodies may still contribute to the immune protection against malaria, but they were not reliable parameters for protective immunity in the population we studied.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume44
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)191-200
Number of pages10
ISSN0002-9637
Publication statusPublished - Feb 1991

    Research areas

  • Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Antibodies, Protozoan/blood, Antigens, Protozoan/immunology, Antigens, Surface/immunology, Child, Child, Preschool, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Humans, Infant, Liberia, Longitudinal Studies, Malaria/epidemiology, Molecular Sequence Data, Oligopeptides/immunology, Plasmodium falciparum/immunology, Protozoan Proteins/immunology

ID: 203011696