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B and T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and macrophages

This indicates that NK cells may provide an important immune defense against malaria, says Lewis Lanier, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California at San Francisco. “These findings will prompt future studies in infected humans and suggest that augmenting NK cell function might provide a new therapeutic strategy for malaria,” says Lanier, who was not part of the research team.

An innate immune response is triggered during Plasmodium infection as first line of defense, followed by an adaptive immune response, which includes T-cells, B-cells, and antibodies. 

One of the biggest problems in controlling malaria in regions of high transmission, where it continues to account for over one million deaths yearly, is that protective immunity against re-infection does not occur. It is believed that inadequate formation and maintenance of infection-fighting memory T-cells are at the root of this immune malfunction. This phenomenon also frustrates efforts to develop effective malaria vaccines.

It’s known that malaria causes a highly inflammatory response in infected individuals that leads to the deadly clinical complications of anemia and cerebral disease. The Yale research team learned that the parasites produce their own version of a human cytokine, or immune hormone, which directs the inflammatory response during malaria. They also discovered that this cytokine, called PMIF, incapacitates the anti-malaria, memory T-cell immune response.