Demonstration of antigenic polymorphism in Plasmodium vivax malaria with a panel of 30 monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

A panel of 30 monoclonal antibodies was established against asexual erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium vivax and used to investigate the antigenic composition of the parasite. At least 38 different antigenic polypeptides of P. vivax were characterized by the Western blot technique. The possible location of these antigens, as well as their stage and species specificity, was determined on the basis of the staining patterns produced by these antibodies on air-dried parasites in the indirect immunofluorescence test. Immunofluorescence performed with 30 different monoclonal antibodies on 50 different isolates of P. vivax obtained from patients showed that a high level of antigenic polymorphism prevailed in P. vivax. Only six monoclonal antibodies reacted with epitopes that were represented in more than 80% of parasite isolates, and therefore, appeared to be relatively conserved among different isolates. The other 24 monoclonal antibodies reacted with only 20 to 70% of parasite isolates.

Plasmodium vivax: detection of blood parasites using fluorochrome labelled monoclonal antibodies

“…vivax and P . falciparum and probably large scale screening by flow cytometric analysis (Vianen et al 1993). However, several problems have to be overcome before novel diagnostic assays such as those based on MoAbs can reach the peripheral services of malaria diagnosis in tropical countries.…”

Plasmodium vivax malaria: parasite biology defines potential targets for vaccine development

“…With regard to the collection of monoclonal antibodies isolated to date against the asexual stages of P. vivax [3,6,59,70] some are directed against parasite surface components, others against components present in Schiiffner's dots or in apic~l organelles of the merozoite (rhoptries) or against infected erythrocyte surface antigens.…”

“…Partial screening of the library was performed as described in [44] using pooled anti P. vivax hyperimmune squirrel monkey serum, leading to the isolation of 53 confirmed positive clones expressing recombinant polypeptides recognized by immune serum• Immunopurification of mono-or oligospecific antibody from monkey hyperimmune serum was performed by plaque antibody selection as described in [12]. A Western blot of P. vivax asexual erythrocytic stage parasites, performed as described in [70], was reacted with: lane a anfi-P, vivax hyperimmune monkey serum, lanes b-v antibodies isolated from monkey hyperimmune serum by plaque antibody selection on different recombinants, lane i control plaque-selected on ,~gtl 1. -Immunofluorescence patterns obtained with asexual erythrocytic stages of P. vivax reacted with anti-recombinant mouse immune sera.…”

“…Out of the 23 different recombinant antigens used to immunize, 8 led to the production of antibodies in mice. Immune sera obtained were tested by immunofluorescence with purified P. vivax asexual stage parasites as described in [70]. Three of the 8 sera produced well.defined immunofluorescence patterns; Fig.…”

“…Although the necessity of obtaining parasite material from patients or infected monkeys has somewhat hindered progress, it has also resulted in our obtaining valuable information on the biology of P. vivax as well as on the host's immune response to this parasite. The use of monoclonal antibodies [3,6,59,70] and recombinant DNA technology [4, 12, Correspondence and reprints. 15,47] has recently led to abetter knowledge of P. vivax antigens.…”