Modified Vaccine May Prevent Malaria

Michigan State University researchers have created a new malaria vaccine—one that combines the use of a disabled cold virus with an immune system-stimulating gene — that appears to increase the immune response against the parasite that causes the deadly disease. They also discovered that another immune-system stimulating agent — which was created at MSU and has been successful in improving immune response in vaccines for diseases such as HIV — made for a lesseffective malaria vaccine. The findings, which are published in the September issue of PLoS One, will help researchers develop more effective vaccine platforms in general, and malaria vaccines specifically

In mouse models, the researchers used two gene adjuvants (rEA and EAT-2), both of which aimed to elicit improved immune responses to the malaria CSP gene. Surprisingly, the rEA agent developed at MSU did not produce the desired result and instead worsened the animal’s ability to generate an immune response to CSP. However, the EAT-2 gene-adjuvant stimulated the immune system in a different way, increasing the ability of the immune system to respond to CSP to a level that surpassed currently available malaria vaccine systems.