Splenic hypoxia during early-stage Plasmodium infection promotes extrafollicular plasmablast differentiation

Malaria is a global health burden and with recent strains on health care infrastructure globally case eradication efforts have plateaued. A top priority in eradication efforts moving forward is to develop vaccines capable of producing a long lived and effective antibody response in order to prevent reinfection. One noted roadblock in this effort is the Plasmodium induced defects in the humoral immune system, the arm of the immune system responsible for antibody production. The factors contributing to formation of effective antibody responses, as those which produced long lived immune memory are still an area of very active research. The work described here seeks to understand the influence that blood flow, and thus oxygen availability has over the formation of these antibody responses.