Indentification of antibody targets and mechanisms associated with duration and spontaneous clearance of subclinical Plasmodium vivax infection

Despite the significant burden of P. vivax malaria within the Asia-Pacific Region, immunity to P. vivax is chronically understudied and there are few studies investigating the functional immune mechanisms associated with clinical protection from P. vivax malaria. Further, no study to date has explored the immune targets or mechanisms associated with spontaneous clearance of peripheral sub-clinical P. vivax parasitemia. We propose to identify the antibody targets and functional mechanisms associated with spontaneous clearance of subclinical P. vivax infections in a cohort of Cambodian and Laos participants, and quantify their effect on the duration of these infections.

We will use samples collected from Cambodian (n=150) and Laos (n=202) participants of a nested cohort study, described previously (Tripura et al., 2016; Pongvongsa et al., 2018) and currently available at the Burnet Institute in co-investigator Professor Freya Fowkes’ lab. Briefly, participants with a sub-clinical Plasmodium spp. infection detected by high-volume ultra-sensitive PCR (HVU-PCR) were enrolled in a 12-month study. Participants were sampled monthly to determine sub-clinical infection status by HVU-PCR and sera samples are available for serological analyses. In the 352 participants enrolled, a total 613 sub-clinical Plasmodium spp. infections were observed (176 P. vivax, 153 P. falciparum, 137 mixed P. vivax/P. falciparum and 147 untyped Plasmodium spp.)

Asymptomatic Reservoir
Enabling Technologies & Assays
P. vivax

Nov 2021 — Oct 2023

$15,000

Australia

Australian Centre for Research Excellence in Malaria Elimination (ACREME)