German researchers discover protective antibodies following malaria infections

While no effective vaccine yet exists against malaria, researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have taken the world a huge step closer with the discovery of antibodies produced in the wake of malaria infection.

Using mice, they identified long-lived memory cells formed and produced by the body’s immune system in the event it is ever again attacked by the tropical disease. Additionally, they used human blood samples from people in high-risk areas to isolate such long-lived memory cells, identifying antibodies on their surfaces that trigger mass production of the antibodies if they detect another infection. They discovered these memory cells in nearly all study subjects.

Researchers, in turn, analyzed the amino acid sequences that are targeted by these antibodies. Armed with this knowledge, Hedda Wardemann, from the DFKZ, said scientists could develop a protective vaccine.

“An effective vaccine must cause the memory cells to generate an extremely powerful response – before the sporozoites disappear out of reach into the liver,” Wardemann said. “To make this happen, we must know the targets of a protective immune response as exactly as possible. In our current study, we have achieved this: The sporozoite amino acid sequences against which the protective antibodies are directed can serve as a basis for a new vaccine.”