Overall, these results point towards the contribution of DC8 to gC1qR binding and severe malaria, the antigenic conservation of these PfEMP1 variants, their preferential transcription by malaria parasites infecting individuals who have still not developed antimalarial immunity [34,48,49] and the need to perform longitudinal studies to assess the role of antibodies against DC8 in reducing the risk of severe malaria. Here, NSL1 is linked to malaria.