Researchers have discovered an antibody-generating protein that could help prevent multiplication of malaria parasites inside the body, giving new hope for a vaccine, reports [s]The Times[/s]. The protein could aid scientists in their work fighting the most severe forms of malaria, a disease that kills more than 600,000 people each year, particularly young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Named [b]PfSEA-1[/b], the protein, whose presence spurs the body's formation of antibodies, was linked to a reduced level of parasites in a number of children and adults in regions of Africa where malaria is endemic. Mice exposed to the protein in an experimental vaccine showed decreased levels of parasites in their blood. Researchers based their study on blood samples from two-year-old Tanzanian children who were either resistant or susceptible to malaria.
Researchers from the US and Tanzania have discovered that repeated infection does generate some immunity and episodes of severe malaria are unusual once a child reaches age five. [s]Science Daily[/s] reports that the researchersexamined 882 Tanzanian children beginning at birth and continuing for an average of two years and although no simple relationship between parasite density and malaria severity emerged, they note that this prospective study is the first to provide direct evidence that severe malaria risk is stable over several infections. The report says the findings suggest a new approach to malaria vaccine development based on naturally acquired immunity.
[link url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2014/05/23/scientists-uncover-potential-malaria-vaccine-candidate]Full report in The Times[/link]
[link url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/871.abstract?sid=240affc5-76c6-42ac-9d30-af0d3b63bddb]Science abstract[/link]
[link url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140507212333.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_health+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Health+News%29]Full Science Daily report[/link]
[link url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1303944]New England Journal of Medicine abstract[/link]