Trial reportThe Journal of infectious diseases2009
Antibodies to variant surface antigens of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes are associated with protection from treatment failure and the development of anemia in pregnancy.
Trial report in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pregnancy-specific malarial immunity and risk of malaria in pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes: a systematic review.BMC medicine · 2020Pooled it
- High Antibodies to VAR2CSA in Response to Malaria Infection Are Associated With Improved Birthweight in a Longitudinal Study of Pregnant Women.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- The impact of lipid-based nutrient supplementation on anti-malarial antibodies in pregnant women in a randomized controlled trial.Malaria journal · 2015Trial
- Trial
- VAR2CSA-specific IgG and IgM antibodies are markers of exposure and protection against adverse malaria pregnancy outcomes.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Anti-phosphatidylserine antibody levels are low in multigravid pregnant women in a malaria-endemic area in Nigeria, and do not correlate with anti-VAR2CSA antibodies.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
- Breadth of Antibodies toFrontiers in immunology · 2022Article
- Article
- The Development, Fine Specificity, and Importance of High-Avidity Antibodies to VAR2CSA in Pregnant Cameroonian Women Living in Yaoundé, an Urban City.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
- Do Antibodies to Malaria Surface Antigens Play a Role in Protecting Mothers From Maternal Anemia?Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- Association of Antibodies to VAR2CSA and Merozoite Antigens with Pregnancy Outcomes in Women Living in Yaoundé, Cameroon.Infection and immunity · 2018Article
- IgM and IgG against Plasmodium falciparum lysate as surrogates of malaria exposure and protection during pregnancy.Malaria journal · 2018Article
- Clinical Outcomes of Submicroscopic Infections and Correlates of Protection of VAR2CSA Antibodies in a Longitudinal Study of Pregnant Women in Colombia.Infection and immunity · 2018Article
- Evaluating antibody functional activity and strain-specificity of vaccine candidates for malaria in pregnancy using in vitro phagocytosis assays.Parasites & vectors · 2018Article
- A versatile, high through-put, bead-based phagocytosis assay for Plasmodium falciparum.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Statistical prediction of immunity to placental malaria based on multi-assay antibody data for malarial antigens.Malaria journal · 2017Article
- Minimal Impact by Antenatal Subpatent Plasmodium falciparum Infections on Delivery Outcomes in Malawian Women: A Cohort Study.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2017Article
- Malaria during Pregnancy.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2017Review
- Host immunity toProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- Association between malaria immunity and pregnancy outcomes among Malawian pregnant women receiving nutrient supplementation.Malaria journal · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM), Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes (IEs) express variant surface antigens (VSA-PAM) that evade existing immunity and mediate placental sequestration. Antibodies to VSA-PAM develop with gravidity and block placental adhesion or opsonize IEs for phagocytic clearance, helping to prevent maternal anemia and low birth weight in infants.
methodsUsing serum samples from 141 pregnant Malawian women with parasitemia enrolled in a randomized trial of antimalarials and VSA-PAM-expressing CS2 IEs, we quantified levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G to VSA-PAM by flow cytometry and levels of opsonizing antibodies by measuring uptake of IEs by THP1 promonocytes.
resultsAfter controlling for gravidity and antimalarial treatment, higher levels of IgG to VSA-PAM were associated with decreased anemia at delivery (odds ratio [OR], 0.66 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.46-0.93]; P = .018) and were weakly associated with decreased parasitological failure (OR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.60-1.03]; P = .075), especially reinfection (OR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.53-1.01]; P = .057). Higher levels of opsonizing antibodies to CS2 IEs were associated with less maternal anemia (OR, 0.31 [95% CI, 0.13-0.74]; P = .008) and treatment failure (OR, 0.48 [95% CI, 0.25-0.90]; P = .023), primarily because of recrudescent infection (OR, 0.49 [95% CI, 0.21-1.12]; P = .089).
conclusionHigher levels of both IgG antibodies to VSA-PAM and opsonizing antibodies, a functional measure of immunity, correlate with parasite clearance and less anemia in pregnancy malaria.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.