Therefore, the protective effects of CD40 KO depend on infections of specific malaria strains: Larger improvement in host survival was observed in models of early lethal infections (references 34 and 43; mice died on day 7–8 p.i.)than those of moderate or non-lethal infections (mice died ~day 15 p.i. in our N67 model and the non-lethal model in reference 44). Here, CD40 is linked to infection.