Publication Date:
1998-03-21
Description:
Host-parasite coevolution has been likened to a molecular arms race, with particular parasite genes evolving to evade specific host defenses. Study of the variants of an antigenic epitope of Plasmodium falciparum that induces a cytotoxic T cell response supports this view. In African children with malaria, the variants present are influenced by the presence of a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type that restricts the immune response to this epitope. The distribution of parasite variants may be further influenced by the ability of cohabiting parasite strains to facilitate each other's survival by down-regulating cellular immune responses, using altered peptide ligand antagonism.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gilbert, S C -- Plebanski, M -- Gupta, S -- Morris, J -- Cox, M -- Aidoo, M -- Kwiatkowski, D -- Greenwood, B M -- Whittle, H C -- Hill, A V -- Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1998 Feb 20;279(5354):1173-7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Windmill Road, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9469800" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Alleles
;
Animals
;
Antigens, Protozoan/genetics/*immunology
;
Biological Evolution
;
Child
;
Epitopes
;
Evolution, Molecular
;
Gambia
;
Genes, Protozoan
;
Genetic Variation
;
HLA-B35 Antigen/*immunology
;
Humans
;
Ligands
;
Malaria, Falciparum/*immunology/parasitology
;
Models, Biological
;
Plasmodium falciparum/genetics/*immunology
;
Protozoan Proteins/genetics/*immunology
;
T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/*immunology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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