Figure 4.

Endothelial activation and chemokine secretion. A characteristic feature of Plasmodium infection is endothelial activation, which is likely induced by elevated serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels. Binding of TNF to its receptor (TNFR1) induces transcription of adhesion molecules, including ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, as well as chemokines (Pober and Sessa, 2007). Endothelial activation might be directly induced by infected erythrocytes, possibly through activation of pattern recognition receptors (PRR), resulting in elevated expression of ICAM-1 and chemokine secretion (Viebig et al., 2005; Tripathi et al., 2006, 2009; Chakravorty et al., 2007).