The cytokine MIF, produced by macrophages in response to malarial hemozoin (black), triggers anemia in the infected host.

A study on page 1185 shows that the immune system's attempt to fight off malaria-causing parasites triggers severe anemia, a lethal complication of the disease. Parasite-induced synthesis of the cytokine MIF (migration inhibitory factor), say McDevitt and colleagues, decreases the production of red blood cells (RBCs) from the bone marrow.

Parasites of the Plasmodium genus use host RBCs as multiplication factories, rupturing the cells as progeny parasites exit. Plasmodium infection also hampers the production of new RBCs from the bone marrow, an effect this group recently attributed to MIF, which is produced by macrophages that ingest infected RBCs. MIF helps activate T cells and is required to combat other infectious microbes including Salmonella and Leishmania.

But in malaria, MIF works against the host (although it probably...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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