[NAIROBI] According to researchers, understanding how people exposed for the first time to malaria develop immunity could lead to the creation of more effective treatments, including vaccines to combat the sickness.
In October 2021, the World Health Organization health (WHO) has recommended the widespread use of RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), the only malaria vaccine, for children in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas with moderate or high malaria transmission.
But researchers say this vaccine targets parasites before they travel through the bloodstream to cause severe symptoms, prompting them to explore how other potential vaccines could be used to break malaria parasite cycles. in the bloodstream.
“If we can understand how the system immune system regulates the symptomatic part of the disease, we can also begin to develop strategies to reduce symptoms”
Christopher Sundling, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
In study published in the journal Cell Reports last month, researchers analyzed differences in immune response among people infected with malaria with previous exposure in sub-Saharan Africa and for the first time in Sweden from 2011 to 2017.
“We used several methods to look closely at immune cells, inflammation markers in the blood, and antibodies, which we then analyzed,” says Christopher Sundling, study co-author and principal investigator in the Department of medicine of Solna, at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. “We also assessed how different immune cells responded to exposure to red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite,” he adds.The researchers found that people infected with malaria for the first time had significantly higher levels of cytokines (proteins that regulate the immune response to inflammation) than people previously exposed.
“If we can understand how the system immune system regulates the symptomatic part of the disease, we can also begin to develop strategies to reduce symptoms while maintaining control of the disease,” explains Christopher Sundling.
Researchers say these findings could lead to the development of malaria vaccines that target malaria parasites in the blood, making them potentially superior to the existing vaccine. Results from a pilot deployment of the existing vaccine showed a 30% reduction in severe malaria.
“Once the parasite enters the bloodstream and causes symptoms, the pathogen is at a different stage where the vaccine doesn’t work… This is a weak point of the current vaccine,” adds Christopher Suining.
He tells SciDev.Net that finding strategies to get infected people to a stage where they don’t die from the infection could be a game-changer for people living in malaria-endemic areas.
Donald Apat, Program Manager of the Global Fund Malaria Project in Amref Health Africastates that there was uncertainty about the effective mechanisms involved in reducing the parasite load of malaria, including insufficient understanding of the mechanisms of development of immunity against malaria parasites.
“The growing understanding of these immune responses to the malaria parasite, as provided in this study, will likely provide a better basis for the further development of effective vaccines, similar to the success seen in the recently developed RTS,S vaccine,” he said. it at SciDev.Net.
“This could contribute to a significant reduction in cases of illness and deaths,” adds Donald Apat.