National Institute of Health in process to eradicate malaria

Written by Subhasis Chatterjee

Wednesday, 28 March 2007

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An experimental vaccine developed by the researchers at the National Institutes of Health can theoretically eradicate malaria from a particular place.

The vaccine has so far been tested only in mice. The experimental vaccine is expected to prompt the immune system of person to eliminate the plasmodium parasite from the digestive tract of a malaria carrier mosquito after the mosquito has fed upon the blood of the vaccinated person. The vaccine would limit or prevent malarial disease in the person who received it.

Conjugate technology was used to develop this vaccine. Through this vaccine molecules are joined which the immune system finds it difficult to identify but once they conjugate, the immune system can recognize them easily. Then the immune system can target the cells and begin making antibodies to eliminate those molecules. Without the help of the vaccine the immune system would not have been able to detect the virus.

Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health said, ‘With conjugate technology, NIH researchers have developed effective vaccines against such scourges as Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis and typhoid fever.’ He also said, ‘The experimental malaria vaccine shows great promise for combating a terrible disease that exacts a devastating toll on the world's children.’ Malaria kills around a million children everywhere.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Laboratory of Developmental and Molecular Immunity, in partnership with researchers in the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biotechnology Unit of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) developed this vaccine.

The vaccine is built with the protein Pfs25 (Plasmodium falciparum surface protein 25) is found only on the surface of the ookinette, a stage of the parasite living in the mosquito gut. The vaccine initially failed to generate sufficient antibodies to target the virus. Therefore the researchers are trying conjugation methods in order to use an effective vaccine based on Pfs25. They are trying to chemically link numerous Pfs25 molecules to each other and other proteins like Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. The conjugate molecules are adsorbed to the surface of aluminum hydroxide which produced very high level of antibodies in mice. The ability of the mice to produce antibodies increased with time. The antibodies worked as desired in mice.

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