Transmission-blocking vaccines (TBVs) for malaria aim to elicit human antibodiesthat block Plasmodium falciparum parasites from developing in mosquitos, thereby preventing disease spread. Pfs48/4B is a conserved GPI-linked protein expressed by P. falciparum gametocytes and is reported to be essential for the fertility of malaria parasites. It is the target of a potent transmission-blocking monoclonal antibody and a leading candidate antigen for TBVs. However, it has been difficult to generate high quality Pfs48/4B protein for vaccination purposes. This group used a computational approach to engineer a stabilized version of Pfs48/4B and showed that mice immunized with liposomes or nanoparticles containing the engineered antigen had markedly enhanced transmission-blocking activity compared to mice immunized with the native protein.
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