Article
Is there a Role for Autoimmunity in Immune Protection against Malaria?
Registro en:
RIBEIRO, Cláudio Tadeu Daniel. Is there a Role for Autoimmunity in Immune Protection against Malaria? Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, v. 95, n. 2, p. 199-207, Mar./Apr. 2000.
0074-0206
10.1590/S0074-02762000000200011
1678-8060
Autor
Ribeiro, Cláudio Tadeu Daniel
Resumen
Much remains to be known about the mechanisms involved in protective immunity against malaria
and the way it is acquired. This is probably the reason why, in spite of so much progress, it has not yet
been possible to develop an anti-malaria vaccine able to induce parasite specific antibodies (Ab) and/
or T-cells.
It has been considered in the early 80s that the induction of efficient protection against the blood
stage forms of Plasmodium falciparum would not be possible without simultaneously eliciting an autoimmune
(AI) response against erythrocytes, even at the price of inducing an AI pathology. Despite the
description of the reciprocal relationship, i.e. the protective effect of malaria on the development of AI
diseases – demonstrated since 1970 – no effort has been made to verify the possible involvement of the
AI response in protection against malaria.
With this end in view – and in the light of the knowledge acquired in autoimmunity and the existence
of the so called “natural” (not associated with pathology) autoantibodies – we propose to examine the
hypothesis that the participation of the AI response (not necessarily restricted to autologous erythrocyte
antigens) in the immune protection against malaria is possible or even necessary.