Malaria causes nearly 1 million deaths annually. Recent emergence of multidrug resistance highlights the need to develop novel therapeutic interventions against human malaria. Given the involvement of sugar binding plasmodial proteins in host invasion, we set out to identify such proteins as targets of small glycans. Combining multidisciplinary approaches, we report the discovery of a small mol...

Protective immunity against blood infections of malaria is partly specific to the genotype, or strain, of the parasites. The target antigens of Strain Specific Protective Immunity are expected, therefore, to be antigenically and genetically distinct in different lines of parasite. Here we describe the use of a genetic approach, Linkage Group Selection, to locate the target(s) of Strain Specific...

The rhoptry is an organelle of the malarial merozoite which has been suggested to play a role in parasite invasion of its host cell, the erythrocyte. A monoclonal antibody selected for reactivity with this organelle identifies a parasite synthesized protein of 110 kD. From biosynthetic labeling experiments it was demonstrated that the protein is synthesized midway through the erythrocytic cycle...

Heparin, a sulfated glycoconjugate, reportedly inhibits the blood-stage growth of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Elucidation of the inhibitory mechanism is valuable for developing novel invasion-blocking treatments based on heparin. Merozoite surface protein 1 has been reported as a candidate target of heparin; however, to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved, we cha...

Babesiosis is a tick-borne hemoparasitic disease affecting horses worldwide. To investigate mechanisms of immunity to this parasite, the antibody response of infected horses to Babesia equi merozoite proteins was evaluated. Immunoprecipitation of B. equi merozoite antigens with sera from infected horses revealed 11 major proteins of 210, 144, 108, 88, 70, 56, 44, 36, 34, 28, and 25 kDa. Monoclo...

Babesia bovis merozoites are exposed to antibodies during the extraerythrocytic phase, and surface polypeptides bearing exposed epitopes are possible immunogens. Monoclonal antibodies reactive with the merozoite surface bind either immunodominant epitopes expressed diffusely on the merozoite surface or, alternatively, epitopes expressed in a polar pattern. Epitopes expressed diffusely on the im...

The Babesia bovis merozoite surface antigen 2 (MSA-2) locus encodes four proteins, MSA-2a(1), -2a(2), -2b, and -2c. With the use of specific antibodies, each MSA-2 protein was shown to be expressed on the surface of live extracellular merozoites and coexpression on single merozoites was confirmed. Individual antisera against MSA-2a, MSA-2b, and MSA-2c significantly inhibited merozoite invasion ...