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Effects of irradiation on Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite hepatic development: implications for the design of pre‐erythrocytic malaria vaccines
Author(s) -
Silvie O.,
Semblat J. P.,
Franetich J. F.,
Hannoun L.,
Eling W.,
Mazier D.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3024.2002.00450.x
Subject(s) - biology , plasmodium falciparum , virology , malaria , plasmodium (life cycle) , circumsporozoite protein , immunization , immunology , malaria vaccine , antigen , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science
Summary Immunization with irradiation‐attenuated Plasmodium sporozoites confer protection against live sporozoite challenge. Protection relies primarily on cytotoxic lymphocyte activity against infected hepatocytes, and is suppressed when sporozoites are over‐irradiated. Here, we demonstrate that over‐irradiated (25–30 krad) Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites invade human hepatocytes and transform into uninucleate liver‐trophozoites with the same efficiency as non‐irradiated and irradiation‐attenuated (12–15 krad) sporozoites. Since hepatocytes infected with over‐irradiated non‐protective sporozoites are likely to express sporozoite‐derived peptide/major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on their surface, our results strongly suggest that sporozoite proteins are not the main immunogens involved in protection, and thus may not per se constitute proper malaria vaccine candidates.