The mechanisms involved in the development of cerebral malaria remain poorly defined. In the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Mecheri and colleagues show that a subset of FceRI+ neutrophils home to the brain and are responsible for mediating the development of cerebral malaria in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA. Infected mice have an increase in the proportion of FceRI+ neutrophils in the brain 6–8 days after infection, shortly before their death due to cerebral complications. Naive neutrophils are FceRI negative, but P. berghei ANKA infection induces the expression of FceRIα and γ subunits in these cells. FceRIα-deficient, IgE-deficient or neutrophil-depleted mice are resistant to experimentally induced cerebral malaria. Interferon-γ and IL-6 are decreased in infected FceRIα-deficient mice, indicating that FceRI+ neutrophils modulate the inflammatory response in the brain.

J. Exp. Med (3 October 2011) doi:10.1084/jem.20110845