Humoral immune response to mixed PfAMA1 alleles; multivalent PfAMA1 vaccines induce broad specificity.

ABSTRACT: Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1), a merozoite protein essential for red cell invasion, is a candidate malaria vaccine component. Immune responses to AMA1 can protect in experimental animal models and antibodies isolated from AMA1-vaccinated or malaria-exposed humans can inhibit parasite multiplication in vitro. The parasite is haploid in the vertebrate host and the genome contains a single copy of AMA1, yet on a population basis a number of AMA1 molecular surface residues are polymorphic, a property thought to be primarily as a result of selective immune pressure. After immunisation with AMA1, antibodies more effectively inhibit strains carrying homologous AMA1 genes, suggesting that polymorphism may compromise vaccine efficacy. Here, we analyse induction of broad strain inhibitory antibod

SUBMITTER: Kusi KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2779588 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature