Table 2.

Relationship between host serum iron and P. falciparum.

Study	Major findings
STUDIES SUPPORTING TRANSFERRIN MEDIATED DELIVERY OF IRON TO pRBCs
Pollack and Fleming, 1984	- pRBCs take up more iron from transferrin than uninfected RBCs
Rodriguez and Jungery, 1986	- FITC labeled holo-transferrin traverses from the pRBC surface to the parasitophorous vacuole - Internalization of holo-transferrin is most active in early trophozoite stage pRBCs - A 93 kD parasite protein inserted into the RBC membrane binds human holo-transferrin
Haldar et al., 1986	- A 102kD schizont stage parasite protein inserted into the RBC membrane binds human holo-transferrin
Pollack and Schnelle, 1988	- Twice as much human holo-transferrin associates with pRBCs than uninfected RBCs - Human holo-transferrin binding to pRBCs is non-specific
Fry, 1989	- RBC membranes of pRBCs possess diferric transferrin reductase activity, uninfected RBC membranes do not - pRBC diferric transferrin reductase activity increases as the parasite matures from the ring to trophozoite stage
Surolia and Misquith, 1996	- Human transferrin conjugated to the toxin gelonin selectively binds trophozoite stage pRBCs - Toxicity of gelonin to erythrocytic stage P. falciparum is 25 times greater when linked to human transferrin
Clark et al., 2013	- Addition of holo-transferrin to trophozoite stage pRBCs increases the bioavailable iron content of pRBCs but not uninfected RBCs
STUDIES REFUTING TRANSFERRIN MEDIATED DELIVERY OF IRON TO pRBCs AND STUDIES SHOWING SERUM IRON DOES NOT AFFECT P. FALCIPARUM GROWTH
Peto and Thompson, 1986	- pRBCs do not acquire iron from holo-transferrin - Depletion of iron from P. falciparum in vitro culture media does not reduce parasite growth - Addition of iron to P. falciparum in vitro culture media reduced parasite growth
Scott et al., 1990	- Restriction of iron chelator DFO to P. falciparum in vitro culture media does not affect parasite growth
Sanchez-Lopez and Haldar, 1992	- pRBCs do not take up iron from human holo-transferrin - Depletion of human transferrin from culture media does not affect erythrocytic stage parasite growth
STUDIES SUPPORTING ACQUISITION OF NTBI BY pRBCs
Peto and Thompson, 1986	- pRBCs take up NTBI
Sanchez-Lopez and Haldar, 1992	- pRBCs take up of free, non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI), but not any more than uninfected RBCs - pRBC NTBI acquisition is time, concentration, and temperature but not energy dependent
Clark et al., 2013	- Addition of ferric citrate (NTBI) to trophozoite stage pRBCs increases the bioavailable iron content of pRBCs but not uinfected RBCs