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Rice‐produced MSP 1 42 of Plasmodium falciparum elicits antibodies that inhibit parasite growth in vitro
Author(s) -
Chen Q.,
Liang W.,
Qian F.,
Qian B.,
Cao J.,
Zhang D.,
Xu Y.,
Tang L.
Publication year - 2016
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 - 10.1111/pim.12352
Subject(s) - biology , plasmodium falciparum , antigen , malaria vaccine , epitope , virology , antibody , immunogenicity , parasite hosting , merozoite surface protein , immune system , malaria , monoclonal antibody , schizogony , in vitro , immunology , biochemistry , world wide web , computer science
Summary Many malaria antigens contain multiple disulphide bonds involved in the formation of inhibitory B‐cell epitopes. Producing properly folded malaria antigens in sufficient quantities for vaccination is often a challenge. The 42‐ kD a fragment of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 ( MSP 1 42 ) is such a kind of malaria antigen. In this study, we investigated the expression of MSP 1 42 in a rice system (9522, a cultivar of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica ), which was used as a bioreactor for protein production. The MSP 1 42 gene was synthesized according to rice‐preferred codons and transformed into rice plants via an Agrobacterium ‐mediated method. The recombinant antigen was efficiently expressed in rice seeds with a level up to 1.56% of total soluble protein and was recognized by both the conformational monoclonal antibody 5.2 ( mA b5.2) and the pooled sera of P. falciparum malaria patients. Rabbits were immunized intramuscularly with the purified MSP 1 42 formulated with Freund's adjuvant. High antibody titres against MSP 1 42 were elicited. The rabbit immune sera reacted well with the native protein of P. falciparum parasite and strongly inhibited the in vitro growth of blood‐stage P. falciparum parasites, demonstrating that transgenic rice can become an efficient bioreactor for the production of malaria vaccine antigens.