Looking forward in the new year

11 January 2012

The latter part of 2011 saw some significant malaria breakthroughs:

• In November research was published in Nature identifying a receptor-ligand pair involved in the cellular recognition process that allows the Plasmodium falciparum parasite to invade red blood cells. It was found that basigin, a receptor on the surface of red blood cells, can be activated by PfRh5, a parasite protein involved in blood stage growth. Crucially this pathway was observed in multiple strains of P. falciparum. The full paper can be viewed here.

• In December research was published in Nature Communications that supported the discovery of the basigin-PfRh5 interaction after a comparison of vaccines produced to express 10 different blood stage antigens. The full paper can be viewed here.

After both of these exciting developments the global community is keen to see where 2012 will take us in the fight against malaria.