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Updated: May 25, 2026

Myeloid Cell Isolation from Mouse Skin and Draining Lymph Node Following Intradermal Immunization with Live Attenuated Plasmodium Sporozoites
Published on: May 18, 2016
Malaria's deadly secret: a skin stage
D Lys Guilbride1, Patrick D L Guilbride, Pawel Gawlinski
1The Malaria Research Foundation, P.O. Box 10420, Aspen, Pitkin County, CO 81612, USA. lys@malariaresearchfoundation.com
Abstract:
The role skin plays in malaria infection has long been overlooked. Recent analysis, however, suggests skin-infecting sporozoites initiate rapid suppression of immunity, establishing early tolerance to subsequent lifecycle stages. This explains susceptibility to reinfection by mosquito bite, independent of blood stage-induced immunosuppression or semi-immunity. Vaccine trials corroborate skin-initiated immunosubversion due to skin-infecting forms, tightly correlating bite pre-exposure, live parasites in the skin and endemic vaccine failure. Rapidly advancing skin immunobiology and recently described parasite development in host skin further substantiate the proposed model, consolidating a new concept in parasite biology, exemplified by malaria: natural infection has a defined, potently immunosubversive skin stage, crucially affecting vaccine function and vitally relevant to eradication.
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