MALARIA VACCINE

             A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future.

 Malaria vaccine is a vaccine that is used to prevent malaria. The only approved vaccine as of 2015 is RTS,S/AS01,a recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine, known by the trade name Mosquirix. The RTS,S vaccine was engineered using genes from T-cell epitope in the pre-erythrocytic circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite and a viral envelope protein of the hepatitis B virus (HBsAg), to which was added a chemical adjuvant (AS01) to increase the immune system response. The CSP antigen causes the production of antibodies capable of preventing the invasion of hepatocytes and additionally elicits a cellular response enabling the destruction of infected hepatocytes. It requires four injections, and has a relatively low efficacy. A completely effective vaccine is not yet available for malaria, although several vaccines are under development.

Regards,

Jessie,

Vector Biology Journal,

epidemiol@journalres.com