Guiding the Immune Response to a Conserved Epitope in MSP2, an Intrinsically Disordered Malaria Vaccine Candidate.

ABSTRACT: The malaria vaccine candidate merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) has shown promise in clinical trials and is in part responsible for a reduction in parasite densities. However, strain-specific reductions in parasitaemia suggested that polymorphic regions of MSP2 are immuno-dominant. One strategy to bypass the hurdle of strain-specificity is to bias the immune response towards the conserved regions. Two mouse monoclonal antibodies, 4D11 and 9H4, recognise the conserved C-terminal region of MSP2. Although they bind overlapping epitopes, 4D11 reacts more strongly with native MSP2, suggesting that its epitope is more accessible on the parasite surface. In this study, a structure-based vaccine design approach was applied to the intrinsically disordered antigen, MSP2, using a crystal structure o

SUBMITTER: Seow J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8402609 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature