In vitro studies with recombinant Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1): production and activity of an AMA1 vaccine and generation of a multiallelic response.

ABSTRACT: Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is regarded as a leading malaria blood-stage vaccine candidate. While the overall structure of AMA1 is conserved in Plasmodium spp., numerous AMA1 allelic variants of P. falciparum have been described. The effect of AMA1 allelic diversity on the ability of a recombinant AMA1 vaccine to protect against human infection by different P. falciparum strains is unknown. We characterize two allelic forms of AMA1 that were both produced in Pichia pastoris at a sufficient economy of scale to be usable for clinical vaccine studies. Both proteins were used to immunize rabbits, singly and in combination, in order to evaluate their immunogenicity and the ability of elicited antibodies to block the growth of different P. falciparum clones. Both antigens, when used alone,

SUBMITTER: Kennedy MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC133034 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature