Journal article
Low levels of human antibodies to gametocyte-infected erythrocytes contrasts the PfEMP1-dominant response to asexual stages in P. falciparum malaria
JA Chan, DR Drew, L Reiling, A Lisboa-Pinto, B Dinko, CJ Sutherland, AE Dent, K Chelimo, JW Kazura, MJ Boyle, JG Beeson
Frontiers in Immunology | FRONTIERS MEDIA SA | Published : 2019
Abstract
Vaccines that target Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes have the potential to reduce malaria transmission and are thus attractive targets for malaria control. However, very little is known about human immune responses to gametocytes present in human hosts. We evaluated naturally-acquired antibodies to gametocyte-infected erythrocytes (gametocyte-IEs) of different developmental stages compared to other asexual parasite stages among naturally-exposed Kenyan residents. We found that acquired antibodies strongly recognized the surface of mature asexual-IEs, but there was limited reactivity to the surface of gametocyte-IEs of different stages. We used genetically-modified P. falciparum with suppre..
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Grants
Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank all the study participants, their parents and the staff involved in the study from Kenya Medical Research Institute. We thank Brian Cooke for providing the 3D7-SBP1KO isolate and Alan Cowman and Till Voss for providing vectors for generating the 3D7vpkd isolate. Funding was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Program grant [1092789], Senior Research Fellowship to JB [1077636], Career Development Fellowship to MB [1141632]), the Australian Research Council (Future fellowship to JB) and the National Institutes for Health (to JK [AI095192]). The authors gratefully acknowledge support for the Burnet Institute from the Victorian Operational Infrastructure Support Program, and NHMRC Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Scheme.