Natural antibody response to Plasmodium falciparum Exp‐1, MSP‐3 and GLURP long synthetic peptides and association with protection

Abstract

A longitudinal study was undertaken in Burkina Faso among 293 children aged 6 months to 9 years in order to determine the correlation between an antibody response to several individual malarial antigens and malarial infection. It was found that the presence of a positive antibody response at the beginning of the rainy season to three long synthetic peptides corresponding to Plasmodium falciparum Exp-1 101-162, MSP-3 154-249 and GLURP 801-920 but not to CSP 274-375 correlated with a statistically significant decrease in malarial infection during the ongoing transmission season. The simultaneous presence of an antibody response to more than one antigen is indicative of a lower frequency of malarial infection. This gives scientific credibility to the notion that a successful malaria vaccine should contain multiple antigens.

Humoral Responses toPlasmodium falciparumBlood-Stage Antigens and Association with Incidence of Clinical Malaria in Children Living in an Area of Seasonal Malaria Transmission in Burkina Faso, West Africa

“…These findings confirm those of earlier studies of blood-stage antigens carried out in areas where malaria is endemic (30,32,36). However, for IgM, an association with age was evident for GLURP and MSP1-19, but not for AMA1 and MSP3, showing that the induction of these antibodies might differ according to the nature of the antigen and the level of malaria transmission.…”

“…The aims of this immunoepidemiological study were to investigate whether the levels of antibodies to four different blood-stage antigens, associated with clinical protection in a number of separate studies (20,30,36,42), were associated with protection from clinical malaria in an area of seasonal and stable malaria transmission in Burkina Faso; to identify the isotypes and/or subclasses of the antibodies most strongly associated with malaria incidence; and to estimate the independent effects of these responses when all were considered in a combined model.…”

“…Previous studies using human sera from individual members of populations in areas of malaria endemicity have found evidence of an association between the levels of total IgG to MSP3, MSP1-19, and GLURP and a reduced subsequent risk of clinical malaria (5,20,30,39,42), although results have not been consistent across all studies (19,42). For GLURP antigens, the IgG antibodies generated were shown to be associated with a lower risk of clinical malaria in the majority of studies, while for MSP3 and MSP1-19, the situation has remained controversial.…”

Identification and Prioritization of Merozoite Antigens as Targets of Protective Human Immunity to Plasmodium falciparum Malaria for Vaccine and Biomarker Development

“…Very few merozoite Ags have been studied as immune targets in prospective human studies (6), and few studies compared multiple Ag responses in the same cohort (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). To address these gaps, we examined a large number of merozoite proteins that are biologically plausible targets of protective Abs, particularly those proteins with a defined role in erythrocyte invasion.…”

“…Of the many known or predicted merozoite proteins, very few have been assessed as targets of human immunity (6), and few studies have examined Abs to multiple Ags concurrently in the same populations (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21), as highlighted by the findings of a recent systematic review of longitudinal studies of human immunity (6). Detailed studies of human immune responses have only been performed for a small number of Ags (6), including MSP1, MSP2, MSP3, GLURP, AMA1, and EBA175.…”