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Malaria is an infectious disease caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The P.
falciparum parasite has many var gene that encode a family of proteins called the
PFEMP1 (Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane proteins) which are responsible
for antigenic variation. A characteristic of malaria is cytoadherance which is when the
infected red blood cells stick to the surface of endothelial cells or different organs
possibly a mechanism to evade clearance by the spleen. There are different types of
malaria due to the iRBC adhering to different part of the body. The particular type of
malaria we are interested in is the pregnancy associated malaria (PAM). One particularity
of PAM is that the var gene believed to be responsible for it (VAR2CSA) is conserved
among different strains. During pregnancy malaria many infected red blood cell stick to
chondroid sulfate rich part of the placenta causing severe anemia and an inflammation
response in the placenta that will lead to low birth rate. In our study we went further to
check what exactly was causing the iRBC to adhere to the placenta. It has also been
suggested that IgM playsa role in linking the placenta to the infected red blood cells. To
verify that IgM play a role in CSA binding we set up experiments in which we used
domains of the var genes that have been previously found to bind IgM, We cloned the
DNA, we transfected them in mammalian cells and we set up an immunofluorescence
Assay (IFA) to verify that the cells are expressing the var domain and to detect IgM
binding. With the fluorescent microscope we look for cells that are both expressing the
domain and binding IgM.