Malaria vaccines

Abstract

Significant progress has been made in the development of the malaria vaccine during the last 20 years. Ninety percent of the 300-500 million clinical cases of malaria per year worldwide occur in Africa. Thus, research must be directed toward the 1 million African children under 5 years of age who die every year of malaria. An asexual blood-stage vaccine, capable of reducing severe and complicated malaria and malaria-related mortality, is therefore an important public health tool in these countries. Although knowledge of the parasite's biology is incomplete, research has allowed insight into some of the mechanisms that the parasite uses to evade host immunity. This is the basis for adopting an "antigenic cocktail" approach toward obtaining a synthetic or recombinant subunit vaccine such as the synthetic Colombian Malaria vaccine SPf 66. During the development of Spf66, field trials under both low and high malaria endemicity areas in Latin America and Africa have been carried out. The results from these studies showed a protective efficacy ranging between 38.8 and 60.2% against Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Given the characteristics of the normal immune response to malaria (relatively short-lived and not completely effective), it is understandable that the main goal is to try to increase the host's natural immunity. The best candidates for designing a malaria vaccine are the proteins required for parasite survival, those with low mutation rates and conserved epitopes. Because these proteins play an important role in multiple or alternative steps during the invasion process, they should be the targets against which a protective immune response should be elicited. The interaction between the malaria parasite and its host is complex. It is therefore crucial to define new ways of improving the immune response-such as directly modifying the chemical structure of epitopes or using new adjuvants or DNA immunization techniques-to produce novel vaccines against this disease.

Plasmodium Falciparum-Induced Kidney and Liver Dysfunction in Malaria Patients in Freetown, Sierra Leone

“…Malaria is the most significant parasitic disease of human accounting for 300-500 million clinical cases annually (Amador and Patarroyo, 1996;Hart, 2004). It is defined as the presence of one or more complications in patient showing high parasitaemia of Plasmodium falciparum in their peripheral blood film (Yokoto and Calisei, 2006).…”

Elevated total and isoenzyme forms of acid phosphatase in falciparum malaria

“…Falciparum malaria is a disease caused by an obligate intracellular parasite of the Plasmodium complex known as P. falciparum. It is the commonest malaria infection in Africa, particularly south of the Sahara [10]; falciparum malaria infection is at the root of hyper endemic malaria with great regional epidemics [11] and fatalities in the region of 1.5-2 million persons annually [12,13].…”

Assessment of the Antioxidant Status and Selected Electrolytes Level in Some Nigerian Malarial Patients: A Mini Comparative Study

“…Malaria parasites are carried by mosquitoes and there are different types of malaria parasites of which the commonest is Plasmodium falciparum. Malaria infection is a febrile illness responsible for 300 to 500 million clinical cases annually [4]. Free radicals; also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) e.g O 2 -, H 2 O 2 are generated endogenously in the body and have been linked to the progression of most diseases including malaria.…”