{"doi":"10.1084/jem.20200170","title":"A newly characterized malaria antigen on erythrocyte and merozoite surfaces induces parasite inhibitory antibodies","abstract":"We previously identified a Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) protein of unknown function encoded by a single-copy gene, PF3D7_1134300, as a target of antibodies in plasma of Tanzanian children in a whole-proteome differential screen. Here we characterize this protein as a blood-stage antigen that localizes to the surface membranes of both parasitized erythrocytes and merozoites, hence its designation as Pf erythrocyte membrane and merozoite antigen 1 (PfEMMA1). Mouse anti-PfEMMA1 antisera and affinity-purified human anti-PfEMMA1 antibodies inhibited growth of P. falciparum strains by up to 68% in growth inhibition assays. Following challenge with uniformly fatal Plasmodium berghei (Pb) ANKA, up to 40% of mice immunized with recombinant PbEMMA1 self-cured, and median survival of lethally infected mice was up to 2.6-fold longer than controls (21 vs. 8 d, P = 0.005). Furthermore, high levels of naturally acquired human anti-PfEMMA1 antibodies were associated with a 46% decrease in parasitemia over 2.5 yr of follow-up of Tanzanian children. Together, these findings suggest that antibodies to PfEMMA1 mediate protection against malaria.","journal":"The Journal of Experimental Medicine","year":2021,"id":209230,"datarank":0.24141568686511508,"base_score":1.6094379124341003,"endowment":1.6094379124341003,"self_citation_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9532,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":285305,"name":"Sangshin Park","orcid":"0000-0003-2407-0962","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":796811,"name":"Shu‐Whei Tsai","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":796423,"name":"Bonnie Rayta","orcid":"0000-0003-1871-5752","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":288345,"name":"Charisse Flerida A. Pasaje","orcid":"0000-0002-9780-3680","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":796424,"name":"Sara M. Nelson","orcid":"0000-0002-3541-9640","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":249733,"name":"Angela M. Early","orcid":"0000-0002-3169-2324","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":417942,"name":"Anne Frosch","orcid":"0000-0003-1850-8913","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":69404,"name":"George Ayodo","orcid":"0000-0002-5565-2415","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285294,"name":"Dipak Kumar Raj","orcid":"0000-0002-4952-2796","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285297,"name":"Christina E. Nixon","orcid":"0000-0003-1934-958X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":796425,"name":"Christian P. Nixon","orcid":"0000-0002-9243-5567","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285300,"name":"Sunthorn Pond‐Tor","orcid":"0000-0002-2456-8325","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285306,"name":"Jennifer F. Friedman","orcid":"0000-0001-5804-9921","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285307,"name":"Michal Fried","orcid":"0000-0002-5478-6526","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236042,"name":"Patrick E. Duffy","orcid":"0000-0002-4483-5005","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":32969,"name":"Karine G. Le Roch","orcid":"0000-0002-4862-9292","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":288362,"name":"Jacquin C. Niles","orcid":"0000-0002-6250-8796","position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285308,"name":"Jonathan D. Kurtis","orcid":"0000-0003-1032-9558","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":107724,"name":"Ian C. Michelow","orcid":"0000-0002-8399-480X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":70,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:52:01.526969Z","pmid":"34342640","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}