A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria

© 2018, The Author(s). There is a pressing need for safe and highly effective Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria vaccines. The circumsporozoite protein (CS), expressed on sporozoites and during early hepatic stages, is a leading target vaccine candidate, but clinical efficacy has been modest so far....

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Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2021
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132162
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collection MIT
description © 2018, The Author(s). There is a pressing need for safe and highly effective Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria vaccines. The circumsporozoite protein (CS), expressed on sporozoites and during early hepatic stages, is a leading target vaccine candidate, but clinical efficacy has been modest so far. Conversely, whole-sporozoite (WSp) vaccines have consistently shown high levels of sterilizing immunity and constitute a promising approach to effective immunization against malaria. Here, we describe a novel WSp malaria vaccine that employs transgenic sporozoites of rodent P. berghei (Pb) parasites as cross-species immunizing agents and as platforms for expression and delivery of PfCS (PbVac). We show that both wild-type Pb and PbVac sporozoites unabatedly infect and develop in human hepatocytes while unable to establish an infection in human red blood cells. In a rabbit model, similarly susceptible to Pb hepatic but not blood infection, we show that PbVac elicits cross-species cellular immune responses, as well as PfCS-specific antibodies that efficiently inhibit Pf sporozoite liver invasion in human hepatocytes and in mice with humanized livers. Thus, PbVac is safe and induces functional immune responses in preclinical studies, warranting clinical testing and development.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1321622021-09-21T03:14:34Z A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria © 2018, The Author(s). There is a pressing need for safe and highly effective Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria vaccines. The circumsporozoite protein (CS), expressed on sporozoites and during early hepatic stages, is a leading target vaccine candidate, but clinical efficacy has been modest so far. Conversely, whole-sporozoite (WSp) vaccines have consistently shown high levels of sterilizing immunity and constitute a promising approach to effective immunization against malaria. Here, we describe a novel WSp malaria vaccine that employs transgenic sporozoites of rodent P. berghei (Pb) parasites as cross-species immunizing agents and as platforms for expression and delivery of PfCS (PbVac). We show that both wild-type Pb and PbVac sporozoites unabatedly infect and develop in human hepatocytes while unable to establish an infection in human red blood cells. In a rabbit model, similarly susceptible to Pb hepatic but not blood infection, we show that PbVac elicits cross-species cellular immune responses, as well as PfCS-specific antibodies that efficiently inhibit Pf sporozoite liver invasion in human hepatocytes and in mice with humanized livers. Thus, PbVac is safe and induces functional immune responses in preclinical studies, warranting clinical testing and development. 2021-09-20T18:21:12Z 2021-09-20T18:21:12Z 2019-05-09T16:38:50Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132162 en 10.1038/S41541-018-0068-2 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Springer Nature Nature
spellingShingle A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title_full A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title_fullStr A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title_full_unstemmed A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title_short A Plasmodium berghei sporozoite-based vaccination platform against human malaria
title_sort plasmodium berghei sporozoite based vaccination platform against human malaria
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132162