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Virus‐like particles expressing Plasmodium berghei MSP‐8 induce protection against P. berghei infection
Author(s) -
Lee SuHwa,
Chu KiBack,
Kang HaeJi,
Basak Swarnendu,
Kim MinJu,
Park Hyunwoo,
Jin Hui,
Moon EunKyung,
Quan FuShi
Publication year - 2020
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.12781
Subject(s) - plasmodium berghei , biology , virology , parasitemia , spleen , vaccination , virus , cd8 , antibody , malaria vaccine , malaria , immunology , immune system , plasmodium falciparum
Abstract Aims Merozoite surface protein 8 (MSP‐8) of Plasmodium parasites plays an important role in erythrocyte invasion and is a potential malaria vaccine candidate. Methods and Results In this study, virus‐like particles (VLPs) expressing MSP‐8 of Plasmodium berghei on the surface of influenza virus matrix protein 1 (M1) core protein were generated for vaccine efficacy assessment. Mice were intramuscularly (IM) immunized with MSP‐8 VLPs twice and challenge‐infected with P. berghei . We found that VLP vaccination elicited higher levels of P. berghei ‐specific IgG antibody response in the sera, along with blood CD4 + and CD8 + T‐cell response enhancement compared to the naïve control mice. CD4 + and CD8 + effector memory T‐cell and memory B‐cell responses in the spleen were found to be higher in VLP‐immunized mice compared to control mice. VLP vaccination significantly reduced inflammatory cytokine (IFN‐γ) response in the spleen and parasitemia levels in blood compared to naïve control mice. Conclusions These results indicate that MSP‐8 containing virus‐like particles could be a vaccine candidate for blood‐stage vaccine design.