Malaria vaccine: Immunization of mice with a synthetic T cell helper epitope alone leads to protective immunity

✍ Scribed by Paola Migliorini; Bruno Betschart; Giampietro Corradin

• Book ID: 102162382
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 405 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2980
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.1830230245

✦ Synopsis

Malaria vaccine: immunization of mice with a synthetic T cell helper epitope alone leads to

Institute of Biochemistry., protective immunity* University of Lausanne, Epalinges and the swiss Tropical Instituteo9 Basel

The immunogenicity of the non-repetitive sequences of the Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite (CS) protein was studied using synthetic peptides. Two CS sequences (residues 20-39 and 57-70) exhibiting T cell helper activity were identified. Immunization of BALBk mice with a branched peptide containing either the 20-39 or the 57-70 sequence and two repeats (B epitope) in a linear sequence induced high titers of anti-repeat and anti-sporozoite antibodies. Mice immunized with theT-B construct (high antibody titers) or with the 57-70 epitope alone (no serum anti-repeat or anti-peptide antibodies) were protected to a similar degree after challenge with infective sporozoites. No protection was obtained in mice immunized with the 20-39 epitope. These results indicate that BALBk mice can be protected either by effector Tcells or by high levels of anti-repeat antibodies. Thus, in the same strain, a double mechanism of protection can be obtained by a synthetic peptide vaccine.