Population genetic analysis of large sequence polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage antigens

✍ Scribed by Ambroise D. Ahouidi; Amy K. Bei; Daniel E. Neafsey; Ousmane Sarr; Sarah Volkman; Dan Milner; Janet Cox-Singh; Marcelo U. Ferreira; Omar Ndir; Zul Premji; Souleymane Mboup; Manoj T. Duraisingh

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 279 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1567-1348
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2009.11.008

✦ Synopsis

The battle against malaria, a major global health problem, has been complicated by the ongoing emergence of drug-resistant parasites and insecticide-resistant mosquitoes. Inadequate health systems and the lack of sustainable infrastructure exacerbate the problem in the countries most affected by the disease. Among the high priority potential control measures is the development of a vaccine against malaria. The design of such a vaccine is hampered by extensive genetic polymorphism in Plasmodium falciparum proteins; in particular, those expressed on the parasite's surface that are considered ideal targets for the immune response and the development of highly specific vaccines (McCutchan et al., 1988;Saul, 1994;Conway, 1997). Antigens exposed at the surface of the invasive merozoite form of the parasite, such as the EBA-175 and Msp-2 proteins, are targets of naturally acquired immunity (al-Yaman et al., 1994), inducing antibodies that inhibit parasite growth in vitro that are frequently detected in sera from individuals living in endemic areas (