Fig. 1.

BEL-A-derived reticulocytes support invasion and development of Plasmodium falciparum. a Representative images of Giemsa-stained cytospins depicting P. falciparum D10 ring stage parasites following successful invasion of donor erythrocytes or b BEL-A-derived reticulocytes at indicated timepoints illustrate development of trophozoites, schizonts at equivalent rates with appearance of new rings indicating reinvasion. Black scale bars, length 5 µm, are shown (bottom right). c Bar graph demonstrating parasite multiplication rate (PMR), or the ratio of ring stage parasites to added mature schizonts, for BEL-A and CD34⁺ cell-derived reticulocytes compared with donor red blood cells. Invasion was quantified through manual counting of rings at 16 h on assessment of Giemsa-stained cytospins. d Bar graph demonstrating Selectivity Index of BEL-A and CD34⁺-derived reticulocytes and red blood cells. The data shown in c–d are the mean and standard deviation of three biological replicates (n = 3), and individual data points are represented as filled circles. A two-tailed t test was used to calculate p values, where *** indicates p ≤ 0.001 and ns indicates p > 0.05. Source data are provided as a Source Data file