Figure 2.

Mast cells and basophils are not involved in malaria pathogenesis. Mast cell–deficient W^sh /W^sh and C57BL/6N (WT) mice were infected with PbANKA through mosquito bites (8–10 mosquitoes per mouse). Parasitemia (a) and Kaplan-Meier survival plots (b) were recorded (log-rank test; n = 32 of each genotype; P = 0.1). There were no significant differences in parasitemia between groups. Data are from four independent experiments. (c) C57BL/6N mice were treated with basophil-depleting BA103 antibody 1 d before PbANKA inoculation. Untreated, BA103-treated C57BL/6N, and control antibody-treated (Ab-Ctl) C57BL/6N mice were infected via mosquito bites. Kaplan-Meier survival plots were recorded (log-rank test; n = 11 of each genotype; P = 0.0179). Median mortality is 5 d for the two control groups, and 7 d for BA103-treated C57BL/6N mice. Data shown are from two independent experiments. (d) After irradiation, FcεRIα-KO mice intravenously received 5 × 10⁶ BM cells isolated either from FcεRIα-KO mice or from WT C57BL/6N mice. The two groups of mice were infected with PbANKA with 10⁶ PbANKA-iRBC. Kaplan-Meier survival plots were recorded (log-rank test; n = 12 of each genotype; P = 0.0026). Data shown are from two independent experiments.