The hunt for protective correlates of immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PediatricsProgram in Molecular Medicine
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2014-08-08Keywords
Immunology of Infectious DiseaseImmunopathology
Immunoprophylaxis and Therapy
Infectious Disease
Parasitic Diseases
Parasitology
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Determining an immunologic correlate of protection against Plasmodium falciparum malaria has been the holy grail of natural infection studies, and sought after as an endpoint for malaria vaccine trials. An in vitro assay that provides an accurate and precise assessment of protective immunity to malaria would make smaller, short-duration studies feasible, rather than the currently powered study designs that use morbidity or mortality as outcomes. Such a biomarker would be especially desirable in situations where malaria control measures that result in decreases in clinical endpoints and putatively waning protective immunity have been implemented. In an article published in BMC Medicine, Osier and colleagues addressed this problem, and demonstrated that antibodies promoting opsonic phagocytosis of merozoites provide a functional link between antigen-specific responses and protection. Understanding the mechanisms conferring protection against malaria not only improves our knowledge of basic human immunology, but promises to help in the design of an effective malaria vaccine.Source
BMC Med. 2014 Aug 8;12(1):134. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1186/s12916-014-0134-1Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/39636PubMed ID
25285918Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedDistribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/s12916-014-0134-1
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/