Protection against a Malaria Challenge by Sporozoite Inoculation

The need for an effective malaria vaccine is great, and the current lead strategy undergoing advanced testing is based on the use of the circumsporozoite protein. In this early-stage investigation, the authors followed a different strategy, using an attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite vaccine based on the NF54 strain, delivered through mosquito bites. This vaccine was found to protect against a homologous challenge. In this early-stage investigation, the authors used an attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite vaccine based on the NF54 strain, delivered through mosquito bites. This vaccine was found to protect against a homologous challenge. Malaria is responsible for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality in the developing world, and an effective vaccine against this disease is urgently needed. 1 Despite decades of research, a licensed vaccine is still not available, largely because immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria is considered difficult to acquire, whether through natural exposure or artificially through vaccination. A further critical factor is our incomplete understanding of precisely what constitutes protective antimalarial immunity in humans. The possibility of vaccinating humans against P. falciparum malaria was raised originally by the success of the radiation-attenuated sporozoite model developed several decades ago. 2 , 3 Irradiation of . . .