Defining Targets of Protective Immunity to Vivax Malaria using Human Monoclonal Antibodies

Malaria caused by plasmodium vivax is the most widely distributed type of Malaria with 3.3 billion people at risk and at least 15 million clinical cases worldwide each year. As the most common from of Malaria outside Sub-Saharan Africa, it can cause severe illness and death across a large segment of the world’s population. Most individuals exposed to P. vivax through repeated infection gain partial immunity over time. The immunity is mediated, in part, by acquired antibodies (Abs) to essential parasite proteins that can block the parasite invasion into liver and red blood cells thereby preventing infections and if infected reduce the risk of disease. The production and characterization of these human monoclonal antibodies with potent blocking activities, will help in the design and development of vaccines against vivax Malaria and provide novel therapeutics for prevention and treatment of individuals at risk or infected with this parasite.

NIH Reporter - Project Details

Enabling Technologies & Assays
P. vivax
Vaccines (Immune Correlates)

Mar 2020 — Feb 2025

$774,283

United States

mAbs for malaria vaccine development
Towards a vaccine for Plasmodium vivax