Table 1.

Diagnostic biomarkers for malaria.

Biomarker	Parasite species	Infection Stage	Diagnostic Method	Function/Description	Ref.
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)	P. falciparum	Trophozoite stage	Immunochromatographic assays	Metabolic enzyme in glycolytic pathway to convert pyruvate into lactate	[13,14,15]
P. falciparum Histidine-Rich Protein 1 (PfHRP1)	P. falciparum	Asexual stages and gametocytes of P. falciparum, expressed on red blood cell membrane surface (Knob positive strains)	Immunochromatographic assays	Assist co-adherence of infected erythrocyte to venular endothelial cells	[16,17]
P. falciparum Histidine-Rich Protein 2 (PfHRP2)	P. falciparum	Asexual stages and gametocytes of P. falciparum, expressed on red blood cell membrane surface (Knob-positive and negative strains)	Immunochromatographic assays, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)	Tightly binding with glycosaminoglycans causing inhibition of antithrombin and detoxification of heme by forming hemozoin	[15,18,19,20]
P. falciparum Histidine-Rich Protein 3 (PfHRP3)	P. falciparum	Asexual stages and gametocytes of P. falciparum, expressed on red blood cell membrane surface	Immunochromatographic assays	Function is similar to PfHRP2	[21,22]
Plasmodium aldolase	P. vivax and P. falciparum	Asexual blood-stage	Immunochromatographic assays	Enzymatic role in the cleavage of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate in the glycolytic pathway	[23,24]
Hemozoin	All Plasmodium spp.	Intra-erythrocytic stage	Magneto-Optical Detection	Metabolite formed by polymerizing free-toxic heme after digestion of hemoglobulin by Plasmodium	[25]
Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)	P. falciparum	Intra-erythrocytic development	Western blotting, immunochromatographic assays	Responsible for the oxidative deamination of l-glutamate to produce α-ketoglutarate and ammonia	[26,27]