Infection of erythrocytes with Plasmodium species induces clinical malaria. Parasite-specific CD4(+) T cells correlate with lower parasite burdens and severity of human malaria and are needed to control blood-stage infection in mice. However, the characteristics of CD4(+) T cells that determine protection or parasite persistence remain unknown. Here we show that infection of humans with Plasmodium falciparum resulted in higher expression of the inhibitory receptor PD-1 associated with T cell dysfunction. In vivo blockade of the PD-1 ligand PD-L1 and the inhibitory receptor LAG-3 restored CD4(+) T cell function, amplified the number of follicular helper T cells and germinal-center B cells and plasmablasts, enhanced protective antibodies and rapidly cleared blood-stage malaria in mice. Thus, chronic malaria drives specific T cell dysfunction, and proper function can be restored by inhibitory therapies to enhance parasite control.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
7
2%
Other
20
5%
Unknown
71
18%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 29. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 February 2026.
All research outputs
#1,684,849
of 33,695,692 outputs
Outputs from Nature Immunology
#1,091
of 5,029 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#9,564
of 302,252 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Immunology
#2
of 46 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,695,692 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,029 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 35.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 302,252 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 46 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
