Malaria Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Malaria, including details on prevention, treatment, causes, mosquitoes.

HLA-DR allele reading register shifting is associated with immunity induced by SERA peptide analogues.

Salazar LM, Bermúdez A, Patarroyo ME

Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, Carrera 50 No. 26-00, Bogotá, Colombia.

SERA protein is a leading candidate molecule to be included in an antimalarial vaccine. Conserved high activity binding peptides (HABP) binding to red blood cells (RBC) have been identified in this protein. One of them (6762) localising in the 18-kDa C-terminal fragment was used to induce protective immunity with negative result. Critical RBC binding residues (assessed by glycine-analogue scanning) were replaced by others having the same mass, volume and surface but different polarity, rendering some of them immunogenic as assessed by antibody production against the parasite or its proteins and protection-inducing against challenge with a highly infectious Aotus monkey-adapted Plasmodium falciparum strain. A shift in binding to purified HLA-DR allelic molecules from the same haplotype and in their reading register was found, suggesting that modified molecules had adopted a different (1)H NMR 3D structure allowing a better fit into the MHCII-pept-TCR complex, thereby representing a new mechanism for inducing immune protection.

Published 9 June 2008 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 372(1): 114-20.
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Articles on Malaria published 16 May 2008:

Effects of revised diagnostic recommendations on malaria treatment practices across age groups in Kenya.   Trop Med Int Health, 13(6): 784-7.

OBJECTIVE: The recent change of treatment policy for uncomplicated malaria from sulfadoxine-pyrime-thamine to artemether-lumefantrine (AL) in Kenya was accompanied by revised malaria diagnosis recommendations promoting presumptive antimalarial treatment in young children and parasitological diagnosis in patients 5 years and older. We evaluated the impact of these age-specific recommendations on routine malaria treatment practices 4-6 months after AL treatment was implemented. METHODS: ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Who develops severe malaria? Impact of access to healthcare, socio-economic and environmental factors on children in Yemen: a case-control study.   Trop Med Int Health, 13(6): 762-70.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of socio-economic and environmental factors on developing severe malaria in comparison with mild malaria in Yemen. METHOD: Case-control study comparing 343 children aged 6 months to 10 years diagnosed with WHO-defined severe malaria (cases) at the main children's hospital in Taiz and 445 children with mild malaria (controls) diagnosed in the health centres, which serve the areas where the cases came from. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, age <1 year, ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Insecticide-treated net ownership and usage in Niger after a nationwide integrated campaign.   Trop Med Int Health, 13(6): 827-34.

OBJECTIVES: In December 2005 and March 2006, Niger conducted nationwide integrated campaigns to distribute polio vaccine and long lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) to children <5 years of age. We evaluated the campaign effectiveness, net retention, insecticide-treated net (ITN) ownership, and usage. METHODS: Two nationwide cross-sectional surveys in January 2006 (dry season) and September 2006 (rainy season), using a stratified two-stage cluster sampling design. We mapped selected ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Estimates of the burden of malaria morbidity in Africa in children under the age of 5 years.   Trop Med Int Health, 13(6): 771-83.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the direct burden of malaria among children younger than 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the year 2000, as part of a wider initiative on burden estimates. METHODS: A systematic literature review was undertaken in June 2003. Severe malaria outcomes (cerebral malaria, severe malarial anaemia and respiratory distress) and non-severe malaria data were abstracted separately, together with information on the characteristics of each study and its population. Population ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Malaria published 12 May 2008:

Local adaptation and vector-mediated population structure in Plasmodium vivax malaria.   Mol Biol Evol, 25(6): 1245-52.

Plasmodium vivax in southern Mexico exhibits different infectivities to 2 local mosquito vectors, Anopheles pseudopunctipennis and Anopheles albimanus. Previous work has tied these differences in mosquito infectivity to variation in the central repeat motif of the malaria parasite's circumsporozoite (csp) gene, but subsequent studies have questioned this view. Here we present evidence that P. vivax in southern Mexico comprised 3 genetic populations whose distributions largely mirror those of ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Origins of human malaria: rare genomic changes and full mitochondrial genomes confirm the relationship of Plasmodium falciparum to other mammalian parasites but complicate the origins of Plasmodium vivax.   Mol Biol Evol, 25(6): 1192-8.

Despite substantial work, the phylogeny of malaria parasites remains debated. The matter is complicated by concerns about patterns of evolution in potentially strongly selected genes as well as the extreme AT bias of some Plasmodium genomes. Particularly contentious has been the position of the most virulent human parasite Plasmodium falciparum, whether grouped with avian parasites or within a larger clade of mammalian parasites. Here, we study 3 classes of rare genomic changes, as well as the ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Malaria published 9 May 2008:

Natural relapses in vivax malaria induced by Anopheles mosquitoes.   Malar J, 7: 64.

BACKGROUND: Monthly malaria cases in Finland during 1750-1850 revealed regionally different peaks. The main peak was in late spring in the whole country, but additional peaks occurred in August and December in some regions of Finland. Both primary infections and relapses caused deaths from malaria. The cause and timing of relapses are analysed. METHODS: Monthly data of deaths from malaria in 1750-1850 were successively correlated with mean temperatures of June and July of five years in ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Malaria published 8 May 2008:

Enhanced detection of gametocytes by magnetic deposition microscopy predicts higher potential for Plasmodium falciparum transmission.   Malar J, 7: 66.

BACKGROUND: Aggregated haemozoin crystals within malaria-infected erythrocytes confer susceptibility of parasitized cells to a magnetic field. Here the utility of this method for diagnosis of human malaria is evaluated in a malaria-endemic region of Papua New Guinea (PNG). METHODS AND FINDINGS: Individuals with Plasmodium falciparum malaria symptoms (n = 55) provided samples for conventional blood smear (CBS) and magnetic deposition microscopy (MDM) diagnosis. Standard Giemsa staining and light ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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