ELEVATED PLASMA-LEVELS OF P-SELECTIN (GMP-140 CD62P) IN PATIENTS WITH PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM MALARIA

The plasma concentration of soluble P-selectin (GMP-140/CD62P/PADGEM), a selectin produced by activated platelets and endothelial cells, was quantitated in a group of adults and East African negro children presenting with either non-severe or severe (cerebral) malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Sixty percent of adults with non-severe malaria had immunoreactive levels of P-selectin above 200 ng/ml (the maximum recorded for any normal healthy adult in the assay) and 86 % of all African children with malaria had concentrations above normal irrespective of their clinical categorization, and most exceeded the maximum limits of the assay (> 640 ng/ml). There was no correlation between P-selectin levels and parasitemia. These results raise the possibility that elevated soluble P-selectin in malaria may have an important beneficial anti-inflammatory function.