GlaxoSmithKline Malaria Vaccine Candidate Results Disappointing

by

The latest clinical trial of the world’s leading malaria vaccine candidate produced disappointing results on Friday. The infants it was given to had only about a third fewer infections than a control group. Three shots of the vaccine, known as RTS, S or Mosquirix and produced by GlaxoSmithKline, gave babies fewer than 12 weeks old 31 percent protection against detectable malaria and 37 percent protection against severe malaria, according to an announcement by the company at a vaccines conference in Cape Town.

Read more, via The New York Times.

An Effective Fix for the Devastation of Malaria

by

“Malaria made me and my family poor,” says Ngoy Kabulo, 52, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Every day, we would wake up with swollen bodies because of mosquito bites,” he says. “Our two small children had anemia every month, and we were always spending money on the hospital.”

But a very simple item — a long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net — can help put a stop to this escalation. When coupled with malaria-fighting, awareness-raising efforts, it can reverse the trend and even end the threat posed by this totally preventable disease to families like Kabulo’s.

Read more via The Huffington Post.

Mobile Phones Used to Help Fight Malaria

by

Researchers are studying the use of mobile phones to document the spread of malaria. The study is part of an effort to stop or control the disease.

The World Health Organization says malaria mortality rates have fallen by twenty-five percent since two thousand. Yet the disease killed an estimated six hundred fifty-five thousand people in twenty-ten.

Scientists say malaria-carrying mosquitoes cannot travel far on their own. But the insects can, and do, catch rides in the belongings of people who travel. Malaria also can be spread by people who come from an area with large numbers of malaria cases. They may show no signs of having the disease themselves.

That is what Harvard University researchers discovered in Kenya. They found that the disease mainly spreads east from the country’s Lake Victoria area with people who travel to the capital, Nairobi.

Researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health reported the finding. It was based on the mobile phone records of fifteen million Kenyans.

Caroline Buckee is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard school. She says one of the first steps in stopping malaria is to learn how human travel might be adding to its spread. She says it has been difficult to follow large population movements with methods like government census records.

“But mobile phones offer a really unique way, on an unprecedented scale, to understand how a whole population is moving around.”

In Kenya, the researchers estimated the distance and length of each phone user’s trip away from home. This information was based on messages to and from the mobile phone carrier’s twelve thousand transmission towers.

The researchers then compared that information to a map showing reports of malaria in different parts of the country. The researchers estimated each user’s probability of being infected in a given area. They also estimated the likelihood that a visitor to that area would become infected.

The result was a picture showing malaria transmission routes starting in Lake Victoria. Caroline Buckee says such evidence could influence malaria control efforts.

“One thing that you could consider is sending text messages to people coming to high risk cell towers, for example, reminding them to use a bed net. And I think those types of approaches are simple but they would hopefully target people who are asymptomatic and unaware that they are carrying parasites.”

She says researchers are investigating using mobile phone records in other areas to help identify malaria transmission routes. A report on the study was published in the Journal Science.
—
Contributing: June Simms and Jessica Berman

Source: VOA News

How Mosquito Immune System Attacks Specific Infections, Including Malaria Parasite

by

Researchers have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes’ immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene.

Unlike humans and other animals, insects do not make antibodies to target specific infections. According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, mosquitoes use a mechanism known as alternative splicing to arrange different combinations of binding domains, encoded by the same AgDscam gene, into protein repertoires that are specific for different invading pathogens. The researchers’ findings were published October 18 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe and could lead to new ways to prevent the spread of a variety of mosquito born illnesses.

Mosquitoes and other insects use their primitive innate immune systems to successfully fight infections with a broad spectrum of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, despite the lack of antibodies that are part of the more sophisticated human immune system. The effectiveness of the human immune system is to a large degree based on the ability to produce an enormous variety of antibodies containing different immunoglobulin domains that can specifically tag and label a pathogen for destruction. This great variety of pathogen-binding antibodies is achieved by combining different immunoglobulin gene segments and further mutate them through mechanisms called somatic recombination and hypermutation. While mosquitoes also have genes encoding immunoglobulin domains, they lack these specific mechanisms to achieve pathogen recognition diversity.

The Johns Hopkins researchers discovered a different way by which mosquitoes can combine immunoglobulin domains of a single gene called AgDscam (Anopheles gambiae Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule) to produce a variety of pathogen-binding proteins. The AgDscam gene is subjected to a mechanism called alternative splicing that combines different immunoglobulin domains into mature AgDscam proteins, depending on which pathogen has infected the mosquito. The researchers showed that this alternative splicing is guided by the immune signal transducing pathways (analogous to electrical circuits) that they previously demonstrated to activate defenses against different malaria parasites and other pathogens. While alternative splicing of the AgDscam gene does not nearly achieve the degree of pathogen recognition diversity of human antibodies, it does nevertheless vastly increase the variety of pathogen binding molecules.

“Using antibodies to fight infection is like fishing with a harpoon—it’s very targeted. The mosquito’s innate immune system is more like fishing with a net—it catches a bit of everything,” explained George Dimopoulos, PhD, senior investigator of the study and professor with the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. “However, we discovered that immune pathway-guided alternative splicing of the AgDscam gene renders the mosquito’s immune net, so to speak, more specific than previously suspected. The mosquito’s immune system can come up with approximately 32,000 AgDscam protein combinations to target infections with greater specificity.”

Dimopoulos and his group are developing a malaria control strategy based on mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to possess an enhanced immune defense against the malaria parasite Plasmodium. One obstacle to this approach is the great variety of Plasmodium strains that may interact somewhat differently with the mosquito’s immune system.

“Some of these strains may not be detected by the engineered immune system proteins that mediate their killing. Our new discovery may provide the means to create genetically modified mosquitoes that can target a broader variety of parasite strains, like casting a net rather than shooting with a harpoon,” said Dimopoulos.

Malaria kills more than 800,000 people worldwide each year. Many are children.

“Anopheles NF-kB –Regulated Splicing Factors Direct Pathogen-Specific Repertoires of the Hypervariable Pattern Recognition Receptor AgDscam” was written by Yuemei Dong, Chris M. Cirimotich, Andrew Pike, Ramesh Chandra and George Dimopoulos.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the Calvin A. and Helen H. Lang Fellowship, and the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.

Sources: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Cell Host & Microbe

Mini Primaquine? Controversy and Uncertainty Surround WHO Guidelines for the Antimalarial Primaquine

by

By Lorenz von Seidlein –
This year has seen a considerable increase in interest in primaquine, an antimalarial that has been around for more than 60 years. The answer to why the spotlight has recently intensified on this old drug lies in three key questions in malaria research and control:  How do we contain the spread of artemisinin resistance; how do we minimise the transmission of P.falciparum in regions of sub-Saharan Africa which have reached low malaria endemicity; and what is the optimal treatment to achieve radical cure of P. vivax? The answers to all three questions lead to primaquine, which is the only drug that can prevent both the transmission of falciparum malaria, by killing mature sexual stage parasites (gametocytes), and relapse of vivax malaria by eliminating dormant liver stage parasites (hypnozoites). Alternative drugs, such as methylene blue and tafenoquine, are in development but for the time being there is no alternative to primaquine.

While primaquine is set to play a key role in global efforts to control malaria, it is not a panacea and has considerable drawbacks. In particular, primaquine can cause the potentially severe side effect of haemolysis in individuals with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, a congenital anomaly which is not uncommon. The last few months in particular have led to much debate about what the optimal dose of primaquine should be given efforts to control malaria and concerns over primaquine’s safety:

First, in September a Cochrane analysis concluded, “In light of these doubts about safety, and lack of evidence of any benefit in reducing transmission, countries should question whether to continue to use [primaquine] routinely in primary treatment of malaria.”

Secondly, a group of experts was asked to review the WHO guidelines which currently recommend a single 0.75mg/kg dose of primaquine to kill gametocytes and thus prevent the transmission of falciparum malaria. The experts, some of whom had drafted the current and previous  WHO malaria treatment guidelines came to the conclusion that countries should continue to use single dose primaquine but reduce the dose by two thirds from 0.75 to 0.25 mg/kg.

Third, the recommendation of the experts was submitted to the WHO Global Malaria Programme’s malaria policy advisory committee where it triggered controversy. The final decision if and how to accept the recommendations is expected shortly.

What has happened? The Cochrane analysis is based on stringent and hence exclusive criteria. Only 1776 individuals enrolled in 11 randomised controlled trials were included in the Cochrane analysis. None of the trials assessed effects on malaria transmission hence no evidence for an impact on malaria transmission was demonstrated.

The WHO experts took a very different approach and looked for evidence that primaquine reduces gametocytaemia or more importantly prevents the infection of mosquitoes in feeding experiments i.e. it is assumed that a reduction in infectivity translates into lower transmission rates at least in low transmission areas. Secondly the WHO experts felt no constraint to look exclusively at evidence from randomised controlled trials and reviewed the extensive historical experience with primaquine. Single dose primaquine has been used as an addition to falciparum therapy and in mass drug administrations most recently in Tanzania. This last trial, which started in 2008 couldn’t detect any evidence in a reduction of transmission because there were no malaria cases in the intervention or in the control group. But the investigators detected high levels of haemolysis in study participants especially in study participants who had an underlying congenital deficiency of G6PD. The surprise was that a single dose of 0.75mg/kg primaquine could trigger acute haemolytic anaemia. But then again haemoglobin levels had not been routinely measured  after single dose primaquine administrations and none of the study participants had clinical signs associated with acute haemolytic anaemia. This experience in Tanzania put an end to the belief that the administration of a single dose of 0.75mg/kg primaquine is safe in individuals with G6PD deficiency.

Equally or even more important than the reported trials is the unreported experience with single dose primaquine. Trainloads of primaquine have been used in mass drug administrations in China, Russia and North Korea during the second half of the last century. These mass drug administration coincided with a nadir in individual rights when the benefit of the community had a higher priority than individual health risks. A safety assessment of these huge campaigns is difficult and the completeness of adverse events data is hard to assess. The WHO experts commissioned a safety review of all documents related to primaquine use archived by the League of Nations and its successor the WHO. The review found 13 deaths associated with primaquine administrations and estimated the risk of death around 1:700,000 with considerable uncertainty surrounding the denominator (Recht J, Ashley E, White NJ. unpublished). It is expected that the review will be made available with the revised WHO guidelines. Malaria has been eliminated from the former Soviet republics, and has reached very low levels in China, suggesting but not proving an effect of single dose primaquine on malaria transmission.

Evidence for the efficacy of small primaquine doses comes from the review of the historical literature. More recent, unpublished laboratory work in Jiangsu province, China suggests that a single primaquine dose of 0.125mg/kg or even less can reliably kill oocytes and gametocytes. Whether the large amounts of primaquine administered in the last century have resulted elsewhere in primaquine resistant P.falciparum strains has yet to be explored.

When asked why the experts felt an urgent need to change the treatment guidelines for single dose primaquine the emergence of artemisinin resistant P.falciparum strains and their spread in South East Asia was mentioned. This threat has triggered series of high level meetings yet no viable containment plan has so far emerged. Adding a single dose of primaquine to the treatment of falciparum malaria is recommended in many countries but in practice this is rarely done. Furthermore a substantial proportion of gametocyte carriers are subclinically infected and very low gametocyte densities can’t be detected by microscopy or PCR of dried blood spots. Eliminating this gametocyte reservoir will require mass drug administrations which will probably need to include primaquine. However, uncertain about the safety of primaquine, practitioners are reluctant to prescribe it and policy makers, well aware of the consequences of adverse events caused by public health measures, shy away from recommending the administration of primaquine.

Members of the WHO expert group believe that a reduced single dose primaquine will find wider acceptance than the previously recommended dose and will thus help to contain the spread of artemisinin resistance. They also feel that the spread of artemisinin resistance represents a sufficiently big threat not to wait for more current data. To retain credibility the WHO would be well advised to make without delay the data available on which the proposed changes in treatment guidelines are based. How the WHO identifies and selects their experts is not transparent and several emails to explore this selection process didn’t result in a satisfactory answer. Changes in guidelines may reach wider acceptance if they are the result of a transparent process. Time will tell whether a recommendation to reduce the dose of primaquine by two thirds has any impact on the spread of artemisinin resistance. A much more courageous strategy may be needed to prevent a health disaster.

Lorenz von Seidlein works for the Menzies School of Health Research, Australia and coordinates the vivax working group of the Asian Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN). He is a co-investigator in several primaquine trials and a member of the PLOS Medicine editorial board.

Copyyight © 2012 Lorenz von Seidlein.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

Chemists Develop New Synthesis for Antimalarial Drug, Artemisinin

by

Chemists at Indiana University have developed a new synthesis for the world’s most useful antimalarial drug, artemisinin, giving hope that fully synthetic artemisinin might help reduce the cost of the live-saving drug in the future.

Effective deployment of ACT, or artemisinin-based combination therapy, has been slow due to high production costs of artemisinin. The World Health Organization has set a target “per gram” cost for artemisinin of 25 cents or less, but the current cost is about $2.40 per gram, and production of low-cost semi-synthetic artemisinin has yet to materialize.

“In 2005, the WHO claimed that the structure of artemisinin was too complex for cost-effective synthesis,” said IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences chemistry professor Silas Cook. “We saw this as a natural challenge to the creativity and tenacity of organic chemists.”

Published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society as “A Concise Synthesis of Artemisinin,” Cook and postdoctoral co-author Chunyin Zhu report a succinct five-part process beginning with inexpensive cyclohexenone, an ideal feedstock available on metric-ton scale. Subsequent chemistry highlights several new reactions developed in the Cook group to enable this short, low-cost synthesis.

The result was the production of fully synthetic artemisinin on gram scale, greater than all previous total syntheses combined.

“The key to the ultimate success of synthetic artemisinin will be the large-scale production of the drug,” Cook said. “As such, we had to completely rethink what qualified as suitable starting materials for this synthesis and invent new chemistry.” The result was the use of readily available commodity chemicals in a process that was shorter than any other artemisinin total synthesis ever conducted.

The next challenge will be to move from gram-scale to kilogram-scale production, a process Cook may or may not be involved with.

“There is still work to be done. And we’d love to do it here, but the project has yet to attract outside funding,” he said. “This is still in an experimental phase until you can scale up. We patented it, so the intellectual property rights are in place.”

Source: Indiana University; Journal of the American Chemical Society

Gates Foundation Offers USD$100K Grants for Innovative Global Health and Development Projects

by

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that it is accepting applications for Round 10 of its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a USD$100 million grant initiative encouraging innovation in global health and development research.  Anyone with a transformative idea is invited to submit an easy, online, two page application.

Grand Challenges Explorations is pleased to have the opportunity to again partner with Cannes Lions on a topic that will identify new ways to communicate the impact of investments that support global development. It includes four specific submission categories for grant seekers. We hope these will solicit unique proposals from innovators around the world that the foundation can support as part of its overall mission to alleviate global poverty.

Topics for Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10:

  • Aid is Working, Tell the World (Part 2)  (in partnership with Cannes Lions )
  • Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers (new!)
  • New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases (new!)
  • New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-Malarial Compounds

“Bold thinking from the world’s innovators can address health and development challenges and make a big difference in the lives of those most in need,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  “We seek pioneering proposals that have the potential to improve the lives of millions.”

The Gates Foundation and an independent group of reviewers will select the most innovative proposals, and grants will be awarded within approximately five months from the proposal submission deadline. Initial grants will be USD$100,000 each. Projects demonstrating potential will have the opportunity to receive additional funding up to USD$1 million.

Proposals are being accepted at the Grand Challenges website through November 7, 2012. Applicants from Africa, Asia, and the developing world are encouraged to apply.

Source: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Malaria Nearly Eliminated in Sri Lanka Despite Decades of Conflict

by

UCSF, Sri Lankan Researchers Credit Adaptability of Malaria Control Program

Despite nearly three decades of conflict, Sri Lanka has succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9% since 1999 and is on track to eliminate the disease entirely by 2014.

According to a paper published today in the online, open-access journal PLOS ONE, researchers from Sri Lanka’s Anti-Malaria Campaign and the UCSF Global Health Group examined national malaria data and interviewed staff of the country’s malaria program to determine the factors behind Sri Lanka’s success in controlling malaria, despite a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

Typically, countries with conflict experience a weakening of their malaria control programs and an increased risk of outbreaks and epidemics, the researchers said.

Chief among its keys to success was the program’s ability to be flexible and adapt to changing conditions, the study found. For instance, to protect hard-to-reach, displaced populations, public health workers deployed mobile clinics equipped with malaria diagnostics and antimalarial drugs, whenever it was safe to do so. Likewise, when it was impossible to routinely spray insecticides in homes in conflict zones, the malaria program distributed long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, engaging non-governmental partner organizations familiar with the areas to help with distribution.

The program was able to sustain key prevention and surveillance activities in conflict areas through support from partner organizations and support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Otherwise, researchers found that the keys to Sri Lanka’s success were the same as those deployed in non-conflict areas: rigorously and consistently providing interventions to prevent malaria among high-risk populations; proper and prompt diagnosis and treatment of all confirmed malaria cases; and maintenance of an effective surveillance system to quickly detect and respond to spikes in cases. Still, challenges remain.

“Sustaining the gains of elimination efforts and preventing resurgence is even more challenging today, especially in tropical settings such as Sri Lanka,” said Rabindra Abeyasinghe, MD, the paper’s first author, who led the research at the Sri Lankan Anti-Malaria Campaign. “In this era, sustaining the interest of partners and local decision makers, and ensuring continued funding, are becoming increasingly difficult.  To avoid the tragic mistakes of the past, we must resolve to continue to devote the necessary resources and energy to the fight against malaria in Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka has an extensive history of battling malaria, and nearly eliminated it once before. In 1963, during the era of global eradication efforts, the country achieved a low of only 17 cases, down from 92,000 cases in 1953. With funding declines and reduced spraying and surveillance, the country saw a massive resurgence to 1.5 million cases in 1967-1968.

Since 1970, Sri Lanka has worked to bring malaria back under control, with compelling success, the authors said. In 2011, the country recorded just 124 locally acquired cases – about six cases per million people. This reduction is particularly noteworthy, the researchers noted, given that much of the progress was made during the civil war.

“It is very exciting to document Sri Lanka’s current progress toward malaria elimination, to add another chapter to our country’s ongoing fight against the disease,” said Gawrie Galappaththy, MD, a study coauthor at the Anti-Malaria Campaign at Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health. However, she said, achieving zero malaria will require continued investments and hard work.

“There is no silver bullet for malaria elimination,” Galappaththy said. “Instead, it’s a daily commitment to finding the cases, treating the patients and preventing transmission.”

Today, even with the country’s great progress, Sri Lanka continues to face hurdles in its goal of driving malaria transmission to zero. Total malaria cases have dramatically dropped, but the proportion of Plasmodium vivax malaria infections – the more difficult to diagnose and treat form of malaria most common in Sri Lanka – is on the rise.

Another challenge is the shift in the population group at highest risk for malaria.  In most of the world, children and pregnant women are most at risk; however following the success of Sri Lanka’s control program in protecting and treating these populations, the researchers found that the group most at risk today in Sri Lanka is adult men, particularly those exposed to malaria-carrying mosquitoes through their work, such as gem mining, military service and farming. Sri Lanka is developing new strategies to target these groups.

“Sri Lanka is showing the world how to eliminate malaria,” said Sir Richard Feachem, KBE, FREng, DSc(Med), PhD, director of the Global Health Group and senior author of the paper. “The country has made extraordinary progress, reducing malaria by 99.9 percent in the past decade. And all this achieved during a particularly nasty civil war. With continued commitment from the country’s Government and supporters, we are confident that Sri Lanka will finish the fight and become a malaria-free country.”

The paper can be found here: “Malaria control and elimination in Sri Lanka: documenting progress and success factors in a conflict setting,”  The research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The authors did not report any disclosures.

The Global Health Group is part of UCSF Global Health Sciences and is dedicated to translating new approaches into large-scale action to improve the lives of millions of people. The group’s Malaria Elimination Initiative provides research and advocacy support to countries moving towards an evidence-based path to malaria elimination.

Source: UCSF

Newly Sequenced Malaria Genomes Show Genetic Variability

by

Genetic variability revealed in malaria genomes newly sequenced by two multi-national research teams points to new challenges in efforts to eradicate the parasite, but also offers a clearer and more detailed picture of its genetic composition, providing an initial roadmap in the development of pharmaceuticals and vaccines to combat malaria.

The research appears in two studies published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Genetics. They focus on Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), a species of malaria that afflicts humans and the most prevalent human malaria parasite outside Africa, and Plasmodium cynomolgi (P. cynomolgi), a close relative that infects Asian Old World monkeys.

“The bad news is there is significantly more genetic variation in P. vivax than we’d thought, which could make it quite adept at evading whatever arsenal of drugs and vaccines we throw at it,” said Professor Jane Carlton, senior author on both studies and part of New York University’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. “However, now that we have a better understanding of the challenges we face, we can move forward with a deeper analysis of its genomic variation in pursuing more effective remedies.”

In one study, the researchers examined P. vivax strains from different geographic locations in West Africa, South America, and Asia, providing the researchers with the first genome-wide perspective of global variability within this species. Their analysis showed that P. vivax has twice as much genetic diversity as the world-wide Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) strains, revealing an unexpected ability to evolve and, therefore, presenting new challenges in the search for treatments.

The second study, performed jointly with Professor Kazuyuki Tanabe at Osaka University, Japan, sequenced three genomes of P. cynomolgi. The researchers compared its genetic make-up to P. vivax and to Plasmodium knowlesi (P. knowlesi), a previously sequenced malaria parasite that affects both monkeys and humans in parts of Southeast Asia.

Their work marked the first time P. cynomolgi genomes have been sequenced, allowing researchers to identify genetic diversity in this parasite. Its similarity to P. vivax means that their results will also benefit future efforts to understand and fight against forms of malaria that afflict humans.

“We have generated a genetic map of P. cynomolgi, the sister species to P. vivax, so we can now push forward in creating a robust model system to study P. vivax,” explained Tanabe. “This is important because we can’t grow P. vivax in the lab, and researchers desperately need a model system to circumvent this.”

Much of the work occurred under a seven-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The funding has established 10 International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMR). Carlton is heading an ICEMR based in India, where malaria – and P. vivax in particular — is a significant public health burden. A particular aim of this Center of Excellence is to support and help train scientists in India who can then work to combat infectious diseases, such as malaria, where they are most prominent. The P. vivax sequencing was funded by NIAID as part of the NIAID funded Genomic Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases at the Broad Institute under Contract No. HHSN272200900018C. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund was instrumental in providing pilot funds for the P. cynomolgi sequencing.

Researchers at the following institutions were also part of the P. vivax sequencing: The Broad Institute, the National Institute of Malaria Research in India, Arizona State University, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers at the following institutions were also part of the work on P. cynomolgi: Osaka University, Dokkyo Medical University, Japan’s Corporation for Production and Research of Laboratory Primates, Nagasaki University, Juntendo University’s School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Arizona State University.

Source: New York University

Researchers ID Key Antibodies in Kenyans with Malaria Immunity

by

Australian scientists say they have made an important discovery in the fight against malaria.   They have found that people in Africa who are immune to malaria have developed powerful natural defenses against the disease.

Researchers at Melbourne’s Burnet Institutewho are searching for ways to develop a vaccine believe that people in east Africa could help unlock some of the secrets of this unremitting disease.

The scientists are investigating why some Kenyans have become immune to malaria.  They have identified antibodies, which are part of the body’s natural defenses, that attack the malaria parasite. The hope is that a vaccine can be developed to recreate this natural immunity. Professor James Beeson, a public health physician at the Burnet Institute, says it is an important breakthrough.

“What we know is that some people who develop malaria and recover, develop an immune response that seems to then protect them against, you know, subsequent infections or attacks,” he said.  “So the big question has been how does the immune system do this?  What specific part of the malaria organism parasite does the immune system attack?  And if we know this, could we use this knowledge to develop a vaccine?”

Malaria causes about one million deaths every year, many of them children under the age of five. The mosquito-born disease is present in 90 countries across Africa, South America and Asia.  It also prevalent in the South Pacific nations of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Australian researchers believe that an effective vaccine could be available within the next decade.

Source: VOA News