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+ THALASSEMIA AND THE SICKLE CELL TRAIT
The high frequencies of both
+ thalassemia and the sickle cell trait (hemoglobin AS [HbAS]) found in many tropical populations are thought to reflect selection pressure from Plasmodium falciparum malaria. For HbAS, but not for
+ thalassemia, protection appears to be mediated by the enhanced phagocytic clearance of ring-infected erythrocytes. We have investigated the genotype-specific distributions of peripheral blood leukocyte populations in two groups of children living on the coast of Kenya: a group of healthy P. falciparum parasite-negative children sampled at cross-sectional survey during a period of low malaria transmission, and a group of children attending the hospital with acute malaria. We report distinctive distributions of peripheral blood myeloid dendritic cells and monocytes in children with
+ thalassemia and HbAS during healthy periods and disease, and suggest ways in which these might relate to the mechanisms of protection afforded by these conditions.
Received August 25, 2005. Accepted for publication December 6, 2005.
Acknowledgments: This study is published with permission from the Director of the Kenyan Medical Research Institute. We thank the children and parents for their participation in the study, and the field research team and clinical and medical officers at the Centre for Geographic Medicine Research Coast for their assistance.
Financial support: This study was supported by the Wellcome Trust via grants awarded to Britta C. Urban, Kevin Marsh, and Thomas N. Williams.
* Address correspondence to Britta C. Urban, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom. E-mail: britta.urban{at}ndm.ox.ac.uk
Authors addresses: Britta C. Urban, and Damien V. Cordery, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom, Telephone: 44-1865-857-436, Fax: 44-1865-857-407, E-mail: britta.urban{at}ndm.ox.ac.uk. Mohammed J. Shafi, Alex Macharia and Brett Lowe, Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research, Coast, PO Box 230, Kilifi, Kenya. Kevin Marsh, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom and Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research, Coast, PO Box 230, Kilifi, Kenya. Thomas N. Williams, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford University, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom, Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories/Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research, Coast, PO Box 230, Kilifi, Kenya, and Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom.
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