Longitudinal antibody profiles correlated with protection from malaria in Malawi

Malaria continues to be responsible for substantial childhood mortality in Africa despite current control efforts. Developing an effective vaccine for malaria elimination is constrained by knowledge gaps in both naturally- acquired and vaccine-induced immunity. Existing vaccine candidates elicit antibodies against the target antigen but the associations between antibody functional activity and level and duration of protection are unknown. Additionally novel blood-stage antigens that could be used in future vaccines aimed at preventing symptomatic malaria have emerged (some are polymorphic), that need to be further investigated. Preferred antigens should elicit antibody functional activity that is: i) boosted with natural infection; ii) long-lasting; iii) correlated with protection; iv) not highly strain-specific, i.e., effective against a diversity of isolates. 

Prior studies of naturally-acquired antibody immunity have largely quantified antibody magnitude to specific proteins and have typically been limited to quantifying immune responses infrequently or at a single time-point. Because the immune profiles of individuals are dynamic and a function of exposure to infection that cannot be synchronized at the beginning of a study, these largely cross-sectional measurements obscure outcomes of interest. Furthermore, prior studies predominantly measured only magnitude of IgG responses; few have assessed the range and breath of functional activities of antibodies, and the impact of antigen polymorphisms on functional antibody activities. 

NIH project details

Enabling Technologies & Assays

Jan 2021 — Dec 2023

$415,919

Malawi