BACKGROUND. Cerebral malaria (CM) accounts for nearly 400,000 deaths annually in African children. Current dogma suggests that CM results from infected RBC (iRBC) sequestration in the brain microvasculature and resulting sequelae. Therapies targeting these events have been unsuccessful; findings in experimental models suggest that CD8⁺ T cells drive disease pathogenesis. However, these data have largely been ignored because corroborating evidence in humans is lacking. This work fills a critical gap in our understanding of CM pathogenesis that is impeding development of therapeutics.

中文翻译：

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CD8 ⁺ T细胞靶向脑疟疾患儿的脑血管

背景。非洲儿童中每年有近40万人死于脑疟疾。当前的教条表明，CM是由脑微脉管系统中受感染的RBC（iRBC）隔离和后遗症引起的。针对这些事件的疗法一直没有成功。实验模型中的发现提示CD8 ⁺ T细胞可驱动疾病的发病机理。但是，由于缺乏确凿的证据，这些数据在很大程度上被忽略了。这项工作填补了我们对CM发病机理的理解中的一个关键空白，这阻碍了治疗方法的发展。