The emerging role of the human bone marrow as a privileged developmental niche for the transmission stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Commentary.

The spread of malaria relies on the ability of the Plasmodium parasites to be transmitted from infected individuals to the Anopheles mosquito vectors. Recent work on the most lethal of the malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, identified the infected human bone marrow as a preferential site for the localization and maturation of the parasite transmission stages, the gametocytes. These findings unveil a complex host parasite interplay and an unsuspected role of the bone marrow microenvironment in the successful transmission of the malaria parasite and have major implications in developing and targeting future interventions to block the transmission of P. falciparum.