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. 2020 Sep 21;16(9):e1008891. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008891

Fig 5. Pbsera4(-)-NK65 parasites inefficiently initiate blood-stage infection and can confer protection against sporozoite challenge infection.

Fig 5

(A) Delayed patency following Pbsera4(-)-NK65 sporozoite infection. C57BL/6 mice were infected intravenously with 10,000 sporozoites, and Giemsa-stained blood smears were monitored daily to determine the presence of parasites. ****, p<0.0001, Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. (B) PbSERA3 is upregulated in the liver in the absence of PbSERA4. PbSERA3 gene expression was analyzed in livers of C57BL/6 mice two days after infection with wildtype and Pbsera4(-)-NK65 sporozoites. Relative gene expression was normalized to Pb18s and the average of the wildtype-NK65 samples using the Pfaffl method. *, p<0.05 (unpaired t test, n = 4). (C and D) C57BL/6 mice were immunized three times with 1,000 or 10,000 Pbsera4(-)-NK65 sporozoites and were challenged two months after the last immunization with wildtype NK65 sporozoites. Giemsa-stained blood smears were monitored daily to determine the presence of parasites. **, p<0.01; ****, p<0.0001, Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test.