Arresting Malaria!

Malaria remains a significant global health challenge, necessitating the development of effective vaccines. A promising approach involves the use of genetically attenuated (GA) Plasmodium falciparum parasites. These modified parasites are designed to be metabolically active but unable to progress fully through the parasite's life cycle, thus stimulating an immune response without causing disease. Together with Julius Hafalla and Steffen Borrmann, Kai Matuschewski has summarized recent advances made by Lamers et al. and Roozen et al. which you can read in their Trends in Parasitology Spotlight Article!

Abstract

Metabolically active, genetically attenuated Plasmodium falciparum parasite lines are promising second-generation malaria vaccine candidates. Lamers et al. and Roozen et al. demonstrated in recent Phase 1/2a trials that GA2 parasites, designed to arrest late during liver-stage development and transmitted via mosquito bites, can induce substantial protection against sporozoite challenge infection.