Enhanced invasion of blood group A1 erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum

Invasion of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum into human erythrocytes is a highly complex multi-step procedure. It involves parasite ligands on the merozoite interacting with receptors on the erythrocyte surface. P. falciparum is able to exploit multiple receptor ligand interactions to achieve invasion and to date, several erythrocyte surface receptors have already been identified [1]. However, several as yet unidentified receptors on the erythrocyte surface have also been postulated to play a role in invasion and the specific molecular interactions between merozoite surface ligands and erythrocyte receptors remain elusive. Inhibition of RBC invasion would prevent infection and consequently disease, therefore considerable effort has gone into identification and characterization of molecules involved in this process.