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Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7013-7021, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7013-7021.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Recognition of Variant Rifin Antigens by Human Antibodies Induced during Natural Plasmodium falciparum Infections

Mohamed S. Abdel-Latif,1 Ayman Khattab,1 Christoph Lindenthal,1 Peter G. Kremsner,1,2 and Mo-Quen Klinkert1*

Department of Parasitology, Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany,1 Medical Research Unit, Albert-Schweitzer Hospital, Lambaréné, Gabon2

Received 29 March 2002/ Returned for modification 7 May 2002/ Accepted 2 August 2002

Antibodies from individuals living in areas where malaria is endemic are known to react with parasite-derived erythrocyte surface proteins. The major immunogenic and clonally variant surface antigen described to date is Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP-1), which is encoded by members of the multicopy var gene family. We report here that rifin proteins (RIF proteins), belonging to the largest known family of variable infected erythrocyte surface-expressed proteins, are also naturally immunogenic. Recombinant RIF proteins were used to analyze the antibody responses of individuals living in an area of intense malaria transmission. Elevated anti-rifin antibody levels were detected in the majority of the adult population tested, whereas the prevalence of such antibodies was much lower in malaria-exposed children. Despite the high degree of diversity between rif sequences and the high gene copy number, it appears that P. falciparum infections can induce antibodies that cross-react with several variant rifin molecules in many parasite isolates in a given community, and the immune response is most likely to be stable over time in a hyperendemic area. The protein was localized by fluorescence microscopy on the membrane of ring and young trophozoite-infected erythrocytes with antibodies from human immune sera with specificities for recombinant RIF protein.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Parasitology, Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 27, 72074 Tübingen, Germany. Phone: 49-7071-2980240. Fax: 49-7071-295189. E-mail: mo.klinkert{at}uni-tuebingen.de.

Editor: S. H. E. Kaufmann

Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7013-7021, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7013-7021.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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