Experimental human challenge infections can accelerate clinical malaria vaccine development

Antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum antigens and the risk of clinical malaria in endemic populations

As the research for the development of a malaria vaccine becomes increasingly important, a thorough understanding of the protection afforded by antibodies against parasite antigens is essential. The factors affecting the protective ability of antibodies elicited by highly immunogenic malaria parasite antigens and their interaction have been investigated in a study of Ugandan children by Greenhouse and colleagues. Their interesting finding of the effect of prior exposure on the protection provided against symptomatic malaria and the importance of the results in the immuno-epidemiological studies are discussed in this article.

A 2020 vision for vaccines against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), malaria and tuberculosis collectively cause more than five million deaths per year, but have nonetheless eluded conventional vaccine development; for this reason they represent one of the major global public health challenges as we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century. Recent trials have provided evidence that it is possible to develop vaccines that can prevent infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and malaria. Furthermore, advances in vaccinology, including novel adjuvants, prime-boost regimes and strategies for intracellular antigen presentation, have led to progress in developing a vaccine against tuberculosis. Here we discuss these advances and suggest that new tools such as systems biology and structure-based antigen design will lead to a deeper understanding of mechanisms of protection which, in turn, will lead to rational vaccine development. We also argue that new and innovative approaches to clinical trials will accelerate the availability of these vaccines.

Protective immunity against malaria by 'natural immunization': a question of dose, parasite diversity, or both?

Plasmodium undergoes an obligate liver phase before the onset of malaria, which is caused exclusively by cyclic propagation of the parasite inside erythrocytes. The diagnostically inaccessible and clinically silent pre-erythrocytic expansion phase is a promising target for inducing sterilizing immunity against reinfections. Recent studies in rodent and human malaria models called attention to the induction of potent protective immunity by administration of anti-malarial drugs during sporozoite exposure. Here, we review the concept of drug-mediated pathogen arrest as a natural immunization strategy. This previously unrecognized immunological benefit might also open new opportunities for population-wide presumptive drug administration as an adjunct malaria control tool.

Long-term protection against malaria after experimental sporozoite inoculation: an open-label follow-up study

BACKGROUND

We have shown that immunity to infection with Plasmodium falciparum can be induced experimentally in malaria-naive volunteers through immunisation by bites of infected mosquitoes while simultaneously preventing disease with chloroquine prophylaxis. This immunity was associated with parasite-specific production of interferon γ and interleukin 2 by pluripotent effector memory cells in vitro. We aim to explore the persistence of protection and immune responses in the same volunteers.

METHODS

In an open-label study at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (Nijmegen, Netherlands), from November to December, 2009, we rechallenged previously immune volunteers (28 months after immunisation) with the bites of five mosquitoes infected with P falciparum. Newly recruited malaria-naive volunteers served as infection controls. Our primary outcome was the detection of blood-stage parasitaemia by microscopy. We assessed the kinetics of parasitaemia with real-time quantitative PCR (rtPCR) and recorded clinical signs and symptoms. In-vitro production of interferon γ and interleukin 2 by effector memory T cells was studied after stimulation with sporozoites and red blood cells infected with P falciparum. Differences in cellular immune responses between the study groups were assessed with the Mann-Whitney test. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00757887.

FINDINGS

Four of six immune volunteers were microscopically negative after rechallenge. rtPCR-based detection of blood-stage parasites in these individuals was negative throughout follow-up. Patent parasitaemia was delayed in the remaining two immunised volunteers. In-vitro assays showed the long-term persistence of parasite-specific pluripotent effector memory T-cell responses in protected volunteers. The four protected volunteers reported several mild to moderate adverse events, of which the most commonly reported symptom was headache (one to three episodes per volunteer). The two patients with delayed patency had adverse events similar to those in the control group.

INTERPRETATION

Artificially induced immunity lasts longer than generally recorded after natural exposure; providing a new avenue of research into the mechanisms of malaria immunity.

FUNDING

Dioraphte Foundation.