γδ T cell-mediated immune responses to malaria.

Malaria is one of the deadliest infectious diseases. Licensed vaccine showed just over 30% of efficacy, therefore developing new vaccine candidates and understanding immune responses to Plasmodium is necessary. γδ T cells have been suggested to be associated with immune responses to malaria due to observation of γδ T cell-expansion in malaria patients and experimental models of malaria. γδ T cell acts both "innate-like" and "adaptive-like" cells in immune response to malaria. Studies have found that γδ T cells can recognize plasmodium phosphoantigen, present the antigen and initiate adaptive immune response during blood-stage Plasmodium infection. Recent reports also suggested phagocytic and cytotoxic potential of γδ T cells. Furthermore, studies suggested that γδ T cells associate protection upon immunization with whole parasite. Also γδ T cells during liver-stage infection were able to prevent experimental cerebral malaria. Despite these new findings, there are questions related to γδ T cell response during Plasmodium infection remain to be answered. Investigating cells in human is difficult in many ways; rodent models of malaria infection enable to study the cells in more detail. The insights from experimental malaria models give rise to new cues for development of malaria vaccine and adjunctive therapy for severe malaria. Here, we review our current knowledge of γδ T cell-immune function in human and experimental mouse malaria infection. Especially, we focus on the mechanism of γδ T cell-associated with protective immunity during malaria infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.