Malaria remains a major health problem with 0.58 million of deaths in 2013.
Malaria pathogenesis involves complex molecular interactions between parasite and
host that lead to a wide variety of clinical symptoms. Among people living in endemic
regions, only a fraction of infected people develops severe disease such as cerebral
malaria, severe anemia and respiratory distress. This inter-individual variability may be
explained by the parasite genetic diversity and the host genetic susceptibility. Children
are susceptible to malaria disease and death until they develop an adaptive immunity
after multiple exposures to parasite during their childhood. Several host genetic factors
that may alter this immune response have already been identified. However, the
molecular aspects are not fully understood and a major challenge is to identify these
factors to progress in the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms and to
propose new therapeutic strategies.
Keywords: Adaptive immunity, Antigenic variation, Cerebral malaria, Genetic
susceptibility, Innate immunity, Metabolic acidosis, Microvascular obstruction,
Sequestration, Severe anemia, Severe disease, Uncomplicated malaria.