Abstract

Malaria is one of the biggest known health threats in Africa. Erythrocytes infected with falciparum malaria adhere to a variety of host receptors, including CD36. Cerebral malaria (CM) is a major life-threatening complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection. The human protein CD36 is a major receptor for P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes and contributes to the pathology of P. falciparum malaria. The aim of the present study was to determine the role of the adhesion molecule CD36 in children with CM at Central Sudan. A case-control study included 70 children with cerebral malaria (CM) and 84 controls were enrolled in this study. The method was a mutational analysis for the polymorphism in the CD36-188 T > G using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP) where the distribution of CD36 to 188 T > G genotypes differed significantly between CM patients and controls and children carrying the mutant G allele were associated with eight-times increased relative risk for susceptibility to cerebral malaria (P-value = 0.005; odds ratio = 7.962; 95% CI = 1.571 to 29.903).

Key words: Plasmodium falciparum, cerebral malaria, erythrocytes, Central Sudan.