| Grant number: | 15/02808-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |
| Start date: | May 01, 2015 |
| End date: | February 28, 2017 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Parasitology |
| Agreement: | Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) |
| Principal Investigator: | Fabio Trindade Maranhão Costa |
| Grantee: | Najara Carneiro Bittencourt |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Each year, the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax infects 70 to 80 million people worldwide. In Brazil, P. vivax accounts for 83.6% of malaria cases, being considered as the most frequent species of Plasmodium in the country. Unlike Plasmodium falciparum, infections caused by P. vivax are rarely lethal. However, P. vivax has a significant impact on the productivity of the local population as the course of the infection is usually prolonged and the development of acquired immunity in endemic areas takes several years. The recent emergence of drug-resistant strains and complications on P. vivax infection leads to intensified research on definitive control methods such as the development of vaccines. MAEBL is a chimeric molecule expressed on infected erythrocytes and has an amino terminal rich in cysteine, transmembrane domain, cytoplasmic domain and two other domains (M1 and M2). Although both domains are involved in the binding to erythrocyte, M2 domain is essential for merozoite invasion, and exhibits higher adhesiveness. Recently, it was shown that MAEBL is also expressed in the salivary gland sporozoites and infected hepatocytes. Moreover, the gene that codifies MAEBL was identified in different Plasmodium species, including P. vivax. These features of MAEBL open perspectives for the development of an experimental vaccine targeting pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic stages of the parasite. Knowing that genetic diversity of an antigen can jeopardize the effectiveness of a vaccine, herein, we aim to characterize the diversity of MAEBL from Brazilian P. vivax field isolates. Furthermore, this design will evaluate the immunogenicity of the main variants of this protein in a population exposed to vivax malaria. The results of this project will be of great value for understanding and validation of MAEBL as a vaccine candidate in vivax malaria. (AU) | |
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