Schematic drawing of the PCRCR complex binding to red blood cells via basigin.

Left: the PCRCR complex binds to basigin in order to facilitate close-contact ‘velcro’ effect. Right: inhibitory antibodies towards all five components are able to bind and inhibit invasion both when reacting close or distally to the basigin site. Antibody–antigen complexes with solved structures are depicted in magenta, while unsolved structures are depicted in red. Both monoclonal antibodies and nanobodies are depicted. Structure information was collected from RCSB.org from the following deposits: 4U0Q, 7UNZ, 7P13, 7PI3. Abbreviation: RBC, red blood cell. The figure was created with BioRender.com and ChimeraX.

Björnsson KH, Barfod L. A complex equation - adding to Plasmodium falciparum invasion. PMID: 36682939.