The severe malaria K-TSPs model identified ten gene pairs capable of differentiating severe from non-severe malaria including: SLC38A2-SCML1, SLC25A40-MAP2K7, DNALI1-AGPAT3, LIFR-TBCD, STK17B-ORC2, SF3B1-USP48, ZNF148-ZCCHC2, CBX5-CHAF1A, CNOT7-PLXNA2, and CREM-IDH1. The gene discussed is USP48; the disease is malaria.