Current status of the immunology of malaria and of the antigenic analysis of plasmodia. A five-year review.

The immunology of malaria has been intensively studied, and many reviews of separate topics have appeared. Among host factors contributing to susceptibility to malaria, the following are studied in the present paper: (1) genetic factors affecting susceptibility to human and rodent plasmodia; (2) physiological and nutritional factors affecting susceptibility of vertebrate and vector hosts; (3) sterile immunity in malaria as exemplified by radical cure and by modification of challenge infection following exposure to non-living parasite products; (4) the role of the lymphoid-macrophage system in malaria; and (5) the excessive anaemia of malaria and its etiology.Gamma-globulin levels rise in malaria and remain high during latency. Protection is associated with IgG, which is passively transferable via the human placenta. Not all gamma-globulin is antibody, and not all antibody is protective. The fluorescent antibody technique and double diffusion in gel have been extensively used in exploring the kinetics of antibody production.New methods of harvesting plasmodia attempt to avoid protein degradation and to minimize contamination by host antigens. Plasmodia have proven to consist of a mosaic of antigens, and comparative studies by most of the accepted techniques have been started. Exoantigens have been described in fowl- and rodent-malarias. Relapse-variants of primate plasmodia have been shown to differ antigenically from their parent strains.