Evaluation of three Pichia pastoris-expressed Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteins as a combination vaccine against infection with blood-stage parasites.

ABSTRACT: Because invasion of erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum merozoites involves multiple receptor-ligand interactions, it may be necessary to develop a multivalent malaria vaccine that is comprised of distinct parasite ligands. PfAMA-1, PfMSP1, and PfEBA-175 are merozoite proteins that play important roles in invasion. We have constructed a PfCP-2.9 chimeric protein consisting of PfAMA-1 and PfMSP1 and tested it for immunogenicity in animal models and humans. The F2 subdomain of PfEBA-175 (PfEBA-175II F2) was identified as the binding domain for glycophorin A on erythrocytes. In this study, we used the codon frequencies of the yeast Pichia pastoris to redesign and synthesize a gene encoding the F2 domain. We found that the codon-optimized gene was expressed at a high level in P. pastoris as

SUBMITTER: Zhang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1230943 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature