Coordinated efforts needed for malaria vaccine

James Beeson, PhD

Researchers at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered a group of proteins that may form the basis of an effective malaria vaccine that would protect against the blood-stage of the disease.

The findings of James Beeson, PhD, Freya Fowkes, PhD, and Jack Richards, of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, in Australia, and Julie Simpson, PhD, from the University of Melbourne, are published in the January 19 issue of PLoS Medicine.

The proteins used by Plasmodium falciparum to burrow into red blood cells were identified by Drs Beeson and Fowkes after reviewing and synthesizing data from multiple studies examining the relationship between the antibodies the human immune system produces in response to malaria and their ability to protect against the disease.

Very little was known about the proteins involved in the blood-stage of malaria and how they may be useful in a vaccine before this review of existing studies.

“A malaria vaccine that stimulates an efficient immune response against the proteins that malaria parasites use to burrow into red blood cells would stop the parasite from replicating and prevent severe illness,” said Dr Beeson.

“Only about 6 blood-stage malaria proteins have been well studied out of a potential 100 proteins,” said Dr Fowkes. “There is an urgent need for malaria researchers to better coordinate their research efforts on these proteins. This will take us one step closer to developing an effective vaccine.”