FIG 5.

Hepcidin expression in murine P. berghei infection was not decreased by administration of anti-activin A and anti-activin B antibodies. Mice were infected with P. berghei ANKA sporozoites as described in the text and sacrificed at day 8 postinfection. Mice were injected i.p. twice with a cocktail of anti-activin A and anti-activin B antibodies (containing 100 μg of each, in 400 μl) at 6 and 30 h prior to sacrifice; controls were given isotype IgG control (200 μg, in 400 μl) only. Data in all graphs are combined from 2 independent experiments (n = 6 mice per treatment per experiment, n = 12 total). Gene expression is shown relative to housekeeping gene Hprt1. mRNA of activin-responsive genes Serpine1 (A) and Fst (follistatin) (B) were significantly decreased in anti-activin treated mice, indicating antibody efficacy. Hamp1 (C) and Id1 (D) mRNA were not significantly altered between infected mice treated with anti-activin A/B and isotype IgG control. (E) Parasitemia on day 8 (day of sacrifice) was unchanged between groups. Statistical analyses are Mann-Whitney tests. ****, P < 0.0001.