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Vaccines
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Malaria Vaccine Development
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Recent Advances in Malaria Vaccine Development

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Vaccines against Tropical and other Infectious Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2024 | Viewed by 4258

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ahmad R. Shakri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
Interests: vaccines; development of novel malaria vaccine candidates; delivery platforms; DNA; mRNA; protein
Dr. Dipak Raj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612, USA
Interests: global health; malaria vaccine; molecular parasitology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Infections caused by malaria parasites are a major burden to global human health. As one of the deadliest parasitic diseases, malaria continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 241 million clinical cases and over 0.6 million deaths reported in 2021*.

Increasing resistance to currently deployed anti-malarial drugs continues to be a major concern in the fight against the disease. While Plasmodium falciparum causes the majority of malaria-related mortality, safe and efficacious vaccines for both P. falciparum and P. vivax are needed as cost-effective tools for the prevention and elimination of malaria globally. Importantly, in addition to the world’s first and only vaccine recommended for falciparum malaria prevention in children (RTS, S/AS01), multiple vaccines against malaria that provide high efficacy and meet the malaria vaccine supply capacity will be necessary.

This Special Issue of Vaccines aims to showcase new developments in both falciparum and vivax malaria vaccines.

We look forward to your contributions, including original research and reviews, for this Special Issue.

Best regards,

Dr. Ahmad R. Shakri
Dr. Dipak Raj
Guest Editors

*WHO World Malaria Report 2022

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plasmodium
  • falciparum
  • vivax
  • malaria
  • vaccine

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 9456 KiB  
Article
Leveraging Immunofocusing and Virus-like Particle Display to Enhance Antibody Responses to the Malaria Blood-Stage Invasion Complex Antigen PfCyRPA
by Kasper H. Björnsson, Maria R. Bassi, Anne S. Knudsen, Kara-Lee Aves, Èlia Morella Roig, Adam F. Sander and Lea Barfod
Vaccines 2024, 12(8), 859; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12080859 - 30 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1056
Abstract
A vaccine protecting against malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is urgently needed. The blood-stage invasion complex PCRCR consists of the five malarial proteins PfPTRAMP, PfCSS, PfRipr, PfCyRPA, and PfRH5. As each subcomponent represents an essential and highly conserved antigen, PCRCR is considered a [...] Read more.
A vaccine protecting against malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is urgently needed. The blood-stage invasion complex PCRCR consists of the five malarial proteins PfPTRAMP, PfCSS, PfRipr, PfCyRPA, and PfRH5. As each subcomponent represents an essential and highly conserved antigen, PCRCR is considered a promising vaccine target. Furthermore, antibodies targeting the complex can block red blood cell invasion by the malaria parasite. However, extremely high titers of neutralizing antibodies are needed for this invasion-blocking effect, and a vaccine based on soluble PfRH5 protein has proven insufficient in inducing a protective response in a clinical trial. Here, we present the results of two approaches to increase the neutralizing antibody titers: (A) immunofocusing and (B) increasing the immunogenicity of the antigen via multivalent display on capsid virus-like particles (cVLPs). The immunofocusing strategies included vaccinating with peptides capable of binding the invasion-blocking anti-PfCyRPA monoclonal antibody CyP1.9, as well as removing non-neutralizing epitopes of PfCyRPA through truncation. Vaccination with PfCyRPA coupled to the AP205 cVLP induced nearly two-fold higher IgG responses compared to vaccinating with soluble PfCyRPA protein. Immunofocusing using a linear peptide greatly increased the neutralizing capacity of the anti-PfCyRPA antibodies. However, significantly lower total anti-PfCyRPA titers were achieved using this strategy. Our results underline the potential of a cVLP-based malaria vaccine including full-length PfCyRPA, which could be combined with other leading malaria vaccine antigens presented on cVLPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Malaria Vaccine Development)
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15 pages, 1312 KiB  
Article
Antibody-Dependent Respiratory Burst against Plasmodium falciparum Merozoites in Individuals Living in an Area with Declining Malaria Transmission
by Doreen D. Mutemi, James Tuju, Rodney Ogwang, Lydia Nyamako, Kennedy M. Wambui, Ivette R. Cruz, Pär Villner, Victor Yman, Samson M. Kinyanjui, Ingegerd Rooth, Billy Ngasala, Anna Färnert and Faith H. A. Osier
Vaccines 2024, 12(2), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12020203 - 16 Feb 2024
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Abstract
Malaria transmission intensity affects the development of naturally acquired immunity to malaria. An absolute correlate measure of protection against malaria is lacking. However, antibody-mediated functions against Plasmodium falciparum correlate with protection against malaria. In children, antibody-mediated functions against P. falciparum decline with reduced [...] Read more.
Malaria transmission intensity affects the development of naturally acquired immunity to malaria. An absolute correlate measure of protection against malaria is lacking. However, antibody-mediated functions against Plasmodium falciparum correlate with protection against malaria. In children, antibody-mediated functions against P. falciparum decline with reduced exposure. It is unclear whether adults maintain antibody-mediated functions as malaria transmission declines. This study assessed antibody-dependent respiratory burst (ADRB) in individuals from an area with declining malaria transmission. In an age-matched analysis, we compare ADRB activity during high versus low malaria transmission periods. Age significantly predicted higher ADRB activity in the high (p < 0.001) and low (p < 0.001) malaria transmission periods. ADRB activity was higher during the high compared to the low malaria transmission period in older children and adults. Only older adults during the high malaria transmission period had their median ADRB activity above the ADRB cut-off. Ongoing P. falciparum infection influenced ADRB activity during the low (p = 0.01) but not the high (p = 0.29) malaria transmission period. These findings propose that naturally acquired immunity to P. falciparum is affected in children and adults as malaria transmission declines, implying that vaccines will be necessary to induce and maintain protection against malaria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Malaria Vaccine Development)
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Review

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11 pages, 249 KiB  
Review
Targeting Plasmodium Life Cycle with Novel Parasite Ligands as Vaccine Antigens
by Shan Khan, Manas Paresh Patel, Aleem Damji Patni and Sung-Jae Cha
Vaccines 2024, 12(5), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12050484 - 30 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1206
Abstract
The WHO reported an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries in 2022. A total of 94% of malaria deaths occurred in Africa, 80% of which were children under 5. In other words, one child dies every minute [...] Read more.
The WHO reported an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 malaria deaths in 85 countries in 2022. A total of 94% of malaria deaths occurred in Africa, 80% of which were children under 5. In other words, one child dies every minute from malaria. The RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, which uses the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (CSP) to target sporozoite infection of the liver, achieved modest efficacy. The Malaria Vaccine Implementation Program (MVIP), coordinated by the WHO and completed at the end of 2023, found that immunization reduced mortality by only 13%. To further reduce malaria death, the development of a more effective malaria vaccine is a high priority. Three malaria vaccine targets being considered are the sporozoite liver infection (pre-erythrocytic stage), the merozoite red blood cell infection (asexual erythrocytic stage), and the gamete/zygote mosquito infection (sexual/transmission stage). These targets involve specific ligand-receptor interactions. However, most current malaria vaccine candidates that target two major parasite population bottlenecks, liver infection, and mosquito midgut infection, do not focus on such parasite ligands. Here, we evaluate the potential of newly identified parasite ligands with a phage peptide-display technique as novel malaria vaccine antigens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Malaria Vaccine Development)
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