The interaction between sickle haemoglobin and the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum

The mechanism whereby heterozygous carriers of the sickle cell gene are protected against fatal malarial infections due to Plasmodium falciparum has been examined in a short term in vitro cultivation system. The results have shown that both parasite invasion of red cells and parasite growth within red cells containing sickle haemoglobin (Hb-S) is restricted, but only under conditions of low (5%) oxygen tensions. To bring this about, the cells containing Hb-S need not sickle. Furthermore the growth retardation observed in the presence of Hb-S was also found to apply to the mature forms of the parasite. These findings offer a plausible mechanism for the protection of sickle heterozygotes against falciparum malaria.