Fig. P1.

Selection of P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes on human brain endothelial cells. (Upper) CD36 or CD36 plus ICAM-1–binding parasites exhibited a concentrated binding pattern to a subpopulation of brain endothelial cells, and binding was CD36-dependent. Selection of infected erythrocytes for adherence to primary HBMECs led to a more dispersed binding phenotype and the enrichment of two related var genes associated with CD36^low/ICAM-1⁻–binding parasite variants (both encode a DC8 cassette) and a distinct CD36⁺/ICAM-1⁺–binding variant (encodes a DC17 cassette; not shown). (Lower) The extracellular region of the DC8-var (IT4var19) encodes multiple receptor-like domains termed DBL and CIDRs. The first three domains in the DC8 cassette (highlighted by blue boxes) were shown to encode adhesive activity for HBMEC.