Publication Database

Transmission-blocking vaccines:
old friends and new prospects (2019)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Acquah, Festus K.

Adjah, Joshua (WE 6)

Williamson, Kim C.

Amoah, Linda E.

Quelle

Infection and immunity

Bandzählung: 87

Heftzählung: 6

Seiten: 1

ISSN: 0019-9567

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/IAI.00775-18

DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00775-18

Pubmed: 30962400

Kontakt

Institut für Immunologie

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 51834
immunologie@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

In the progression of the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, a small proportion of asexual parasites differentiate into male or female sexual forms called gametocytes. Just like their asexual counterparts, gametocytes are contained within the infected host's erythrocytes (RBCs). However, unlike their asexual partners, they do not exit the RBC until they are taken up in a blood meal by a mosquito. In the mosquito midgut, they are stimulated to emerge from the RBC, undergo fertilization, and ultimately produce tens of thousands of sporozoites that are infectious to humans. This transmission cycle can be blocked by antibodies targeting proteins exposed on the parasite surface in the mosquito midgut, a process that has led to the development of candidate transmission-blocking vaccines (TBV), including some that are in clinical trials. Here we review the leading TBV antigens and highlight the ongoing search for additional gametocyte/gamete surface antigens, as well as antigens on the surfaces of gametocyte-infected erythrocytes, which can potentially become a new group of TBV candidates.