Adaptive NK cells in people exposed to Plasmodium falciparum correlate with protection from malaria.

The Journal of experimental medicine 2019 Jun 03

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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. © 2019 Hart et al.

Citation

Geoffrey T Hart, Tuan M Tran, Jakob Theorell, Heinrich Schlums, Gunjan Arora, Sumati Rajagopalan, A D Jules Sangala, Kerry J Welsh, Boubacar Traore, Susan K Pierce, Peter D Crompton, Yenan T Bryceson, Eric O Long. Adaptive NK cells in people exposed to Plasmodium falciparum correlate with protection from malaria. The Journal of experimental medicine. 2019 Jun 03;216(6):1280-1290