Abstract
EFFECTIVE immunisation against malaria has been achieved in hosts ranging from birds to man by repeated inoculation of irradiated sporozoites derived from the mosquito vector1–4. In all host–parasite systems so far investigated both the protection against challenge1–3 and the concomitant antibody response2,5,6 are strictly stage-specific, that is, directed exclusively against the sporozoites. The question of whether antisporozoite immunity might also develop in natural conditions in individuals in endemic malaria areas has not been investigated, except for a preliminary study which gave negative results7. Monitoring for antisporozoite antibodies requires a serological test which must differentiate between antibodies directed at sporozoite versus blood stage-specific antigens and must also be highly sensitive (capable of detecting the low level of immunity which might occur in response to the small numbers of sporozoites introduced into the host by the mosquito bite). We report here the development of such a serological test in rodent and simian malaria systems, and the initial results of its application to the sera of a few individuals exposed to Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
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NARDIN, E., NUSSENZWEIG, R. Stage-specific antigens on the surface membrane of sporozoites of malaria parasites. Nature 274, 55–57 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274055a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/274055a0
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