Malaria Vaccines: Recent Advances and New Horizons
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Parasitology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2020) | Viewed by 7302
Special Issue Editor
Interests: malaria; protozoa; HIV; vaccine; cell-mediated immunity; adjuvant
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Malaria is a severe disease that still ranks among the most prevalent infections throughout the world, particularly in tropical areas. In 2017, there were 219 million cases of malaria, with 435,000 people, mainly children in Africa, dying of malaria. Malaria infection starts when mosquitoes inject sporozoites through the skin. The parasites enter the bloodstream, and after reaching the liver, develop into exo-erythrocytic forms (EEFs) inside hepatocytes. The EEFs mature and then divide rapidly to form thousands of merozoites that re-enter the blood and infect erythrocytes, causing the disease we recognize as malaria. The current widespread occurrence and increasing incidence of malaria are primarily caused by drug-resistant parasites (Plasmodium falciparum, recently also P. vivax), insecticide-resistant vectors (Anopheles mosquitoes), and economic/political deterioration in affected countries. These underscore the need for developing new methods for the control of this disease, including, in particular, an effective vaccine. However, one complication is that during its life cycle, the parasite undergoes many changes, each associated with a diverse set of stage-specific protective antigens. Most current vaccine efforts are directed against the pre-erythrocytic stages (sporozoites and EEFs) and blood stages. These vaccines aim at preventing the progression of the life cycle of the parasites or decreasing the severity of the disease. Other vaccines target the mosquito stages of the parasite and aim for the interruption of malaria transmission. Due to the fact that the life cycle of malaria parasites is highly complex, for example, undergoing both extracellular and intracellular phases in its host, mobilization of both the humoral and cellular arms of immune responses is critical to fight against this parasitic infection. This further complicates vaccination strategies and requires approaches beyond conventional means. This Special Issue is calling for submission of original research papers and review articles that deal with recent advances and new horizons with regard to malaria vaccine development. It is our hope that your contribution to this Special Issue will boost the advancement of the field of malaria vaccine development and ultimately lead to the discovery of a novel malaria vaccine that could not only save lives but eventually eradicate this globally devastating infectious disease.
Prof. Dr. Moriya Tsuji
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- malaria
- vaccine
- life cycle
- pre-erythrocytic stages
- blood stages
- mosquito stages
- malaria transmission
- immune responses
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