The malaria bouquet
Malaria-infected red blood cells (RBC) express the pathogen protein PfEMP1 (yellow) on their surface. IgM (violet) and PfEMP1 form a bouquet that makes the cell more infectious and more prone to attract other still-uninfected red blood cells. Moreover, the other immune system proteins (such as the complement, C1q, pink) are not able to be recruited and kill the infected cell.
Malaria-infected red blood cells (RBC) express the pathogen protein PfEMP1 (yellow) on their surface. IgM (violet) and PfEMP1 form a bouquet that makes the cell more infectious and more prone to attract other still-uninfected red blood cells. Moreover, the other immune system proteins (such as the complement, C1q, pink) are not able to be recruited and kill the infected cell.
Copyright OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 沖縄科学技術大学院大学). Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
