Host–Pathogen Interactions in Malaria: Invasion, Neutralization, and Evasion

Malaria remains a major global health burden despite decades of effort toward its prevention and treatment. Much of this difficulty stems from the complexity of the Plasmodium parasite's life cycle and its interactions with the human host. Here, we review receptor–ligand interactions between the Plasmodium parasite and human host, with a focus on clinically relevant antigens. The parasite uses a variety of proteins at each stage of its life cycle to achieve requisite functions such as motility, cell traversal, and invasion. In turn, the human immune response targets these key parasite antigens, and we review well-characterized antibody–antigen interactions. Finally, we describe several mechanisms the parasite uses to evade the human immune response. Understanding of this evolutionary back-and-forth has inspired several different vaccines and therapeutics, and we describe ongoing efforts to create improved next-generation versions.