NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

A next-generation vaccine that uses a weakened form of a malaria parasite has shown efficacy and safety in a small number of humans, according to a new study published in Science Translational Medicine. With this development researchers of the vaccine called GAP3KO might have achieved a milestone in malaria vaccine development.

The study, as reported in medicalnewstoday.com reveals that GAP3KO stimulated an effective immune response against the deadly malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, without causing any serious side effects.

The researchers weakened P. falciparum by removing three genes that the parasite needs in order to enter the bloodstream, infect humans, and cause illness.

The scientists in the study gave mice a rodent version of GAP3KO. They found that it protected against malaria infection when the mice were later exposed to an unmodified version of P. falciparum.

Next, the researchers enrolled 10 human volunteers. Each participant was bitten approximately 150-200 times by mosquitoes that had been infected with GAP3KO.