Dantu erythrocytes, which express a hybrid glycophorin B/A protein, are protective against severe malaria. Recent studies have shown that Dantu impairs Plasmodium falciparum invasion by increasing erythrocyte membrane tension, but its effects on pathological host-parasite adhesion interactions such as rosetting, the binding of uninfected erythrocytes to P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes, have not been previously investigated. The expression of several putative rosetting receptors, including glycophorin A (GYPA), glycophorin C (GYPC),
complement receptor 1 (CR1) and band 3, which complexes with GYPA to form the Wrightb blood group antigen, are altered on Dantu erythrocytes. Here, we compare receptor
expression, and rosetting at both 1 hour (h) and 48h after mixing with mature trophozoite stage Kenyan laboratory-adapted P. falciparum strain 11019 parasites, in Dantu and non-Dantu erythrocytes. Dantu erythrocytes showed lower staining for GYPA and CR1 and higher staining for band 3, as observed previously, while Wrightb and GYPC staining did not vary significantly. No significant between-genotype differences in rosetting were seen after 1h, but the percentage of large rosettes was significantly lower in both Dantu heterozygous (mean 16.4%, SEM 3.2) and homozygous donors (mean 15.4%, standard error of the mean (SEM) 1.4) compared to non-Dantu erythrocytes (mean 32.9%, SEM 7.1, one way ANOVA p=0.025) after 48h. We also found positive correlations between erythrocyte mean
corpuscular volume (MCV), the percentage of large rosettes (rs=0.5970, p=0.0043) and mean rosette size (rs=0.5206, p=0.0155). Impaired rosetting, due to altered membrane receptor expression and reduced MCV, might add to the protective effect of Dantu against severe malaria.