T-Cell Immunity to Malaria in the B-Cell Deficient Mouse *

Abstract

Some B-cell deficient mice drug-rescued with clindamycin HCl from otherwise lethal infections with Plasmodium yoelii resisted subsequent challenge with the same parasite despite the fact that they lacked detectable antibody to plasmodia. Parasitemias remained patent but at low levels (≤5%) in these mice for prolonged periods of time, suggesting that some T-cell function independent of antibody formation can in part mediate immunity to malaria.