Second, hydroxyurea upregulates ICAM-1, a red cell receptor for Plasmodium. As we might have predicted, a study by Pino et al. on the effects of hydroxyurea on Plasmodium found the drug to actually inhibit parasite growth (37) and a phase III trial is under way to test the impact of hydroxyurea therapy administered for sickle cell prophylaxis on the incidence of malaria (38), further supporting the relevance of our work. The gene discussed is ICAM1; the disease is malaria.