Association of anti-variant surface antibody and group A var gene transcript abundance with disease severity in Malaria infected children below five years of age

The main objective of this study was determine the association of anti-variant surface antibody with disease severity and group A var gene transcript abundance in Malaria infected children below five years of age, using flow Cytometry and Quantitative real time PCR techniques. Group A var genes are found to be up regulated in 3D7 infected red blood cells selected against semi-immune children’s sera, suggesting that the group A var genes might contain common PfEMP1 antigenic type that are expressed in early childhood infections. Moreover the protective immunity against severe malaria is first acquired proceeding the immunity to non severe malaria. However, the association of group A var gene transcript abundance and anti-VSA levels in children with severe Malaria than in children with uncomplicated or asymptomatic malaria. Conversely, P.falciparum isolates from children with severe had high reactivity and were well recognized by parasite collected from children with severe malaria had high reactivity and were well recognized by heterologous antibodies. On the other hand high reactivity and were highly expressed by parasite collected from children with severe malaria than those with uncomplicated malaria symptoms, suggesting involvement of group A var gene in pathogenesis of severe malaria. Further studies on group var gene sequencies in field isolates from children with severe malaria have to be done to reveal the up regulated genes in the group A var gene hence their proteins, giving more information for choosing the best candidate antigen for developing disease ameliorating vaccine to accelerate the acquisition of specific antibodies to severe malaria.