Atypical IgG subclass antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum asexual stage antigens

The ability of Plasmodium falciparum to induce long-term immunity in the absence of continual restimulation has often been questioned. Recently it has been shown that, while a high proportion of individuals living in areas of high malaria endemicity have antibodies to merozoite surface antigen 2 (MSA2; MSP2) of P. falciparum, these antibodies are primarily of the IgG3 subclass. In this article, Antonio Ferrante and Christine Rzepczyk discuss how such atypical antibody responses may in part explain why immunity to malaria has been widely perceived to be short-lived.