Kessler A, et al. - In order to assess why some parasitaemic children develop severe malarial syndromes, including cerebral malaria (CM), researchers used partial proteome microarrays to identify and characterize differences in global antibody level, breadth and magnitude of P. falciparum antibody responses, and magnitude of P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) specific antibody responses between children with uncomplicated malaria (UM) and children with stringently defined CM (Ret + CM; WHO definition + malarial retinopathy) in acute infection and at 30 days of convalescence. They noted similar breadth and magnitude of P. falciparum antibody reactivity among children with uncomplicated and cerebral malaria. Findings provided support to the hypothesis that conserved domains of PfEMP1 as more prominent targets of cross reactive antibodies than variable domains in children with symptomatic malaria. To identify cross-reactive Plasmodium antigens including PfEMP1 domains that can be investigated as strain-transcendent vaccine candidates, protein microarrays seemed to be an additional tool.