Fig. 3: Increased transcriptional activation in response to P. falciparum in monocytes from malaria naive adults compared to children.

a Scatter plots describing the shape of these transcriptional data, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) grouped based on if they were significant for “Age”, “State” or “Age/State Interaction”. Left plots, show gene expression at baseline compared to after parasite infected red blood cells (pRBC) stimulation and right plots, show gene expression levels in malaria-naive adults (n = 5) compared to malaria-naïve children (n = 5). b Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of DEGs significant for age and state, at baseline and after parasite stimulation c Log ratio of genes separated by direction of change after pRBC stimulation. Centre line representing the median, box limits indicating the upper and lower quartiles, whiskers extending to the upper and lower limits. Storey’s method was used for multiple adjustment of p-values d DEGs grouped based on their direction of change and relative expression levels maximum in children (C) or adults (A) at baseline and after pRBC stimulation. Purple bars indicate genes that increased expression levels after stimulation and were higher in adults. Orange bars indicate genes that increased expression levels after stimulation and were higher in children. e Top 60 significant pathways identified by Ingenuity pathway analysis using the log ratio value for children or adults and the FDR adjusted q-value of the DEGs that were upregulated following stimulation and were higher in children (orange bars, d). Predicted upstream f transcription factors, g cytokines and h transmembrane receptors to be activated or inhibited in adults and children. Benjamin–Hochberg corrected P-values used to identify significant pathways and upstream regulators in the IPA analysis. All p are two-sided. For all panels data is from children n = 5 and adult n = 5. uRBC uninfected red blood cells, pRBC parasitised red blood cells, DEG Differential Gene Expression.