Analysis of protective immunity of vaccine formulations against Plasmodium vixax after challenge with P. berghei/P. vivax transgenic parasites in murine model

• Grant number: 16/26123-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 01, 2017
• End date: September 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Irene da Silva Soares
• Grantee: Alba Marina Gimenez
• Supervisor: Arturo Reyes-Sandoval
• Host Institution: Centro de Terapia Celular e Molecular. Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Oxford, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/18102-7 - Preclinical tests of recombinant adenovirus-based protein and vaccine formulations expressing the Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite protein, BP.PD

Abstract

Plasmodium vivax is the most common species of malaria outside the African continent. The development of an efficacious vaccine would contribute greatly to control of disease transmission. Recently, using bacterial and adenoviral recombinant proteins based on the P. vivax circumsporozoite protein (PvCSP), we demonstrated that it is possible to elicit strong antibody-mediated immune responses to each of the three allelic forms of PvCSP. In the project associated to this submission (2014/18102-7), a hybrid polypeptide called PvCSP-AllCT representing the PvCSP alleles (VK210, VK247 and P. vivax-like) was produced in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Also, two recombinant proteins representing these PvCSP alleles fused to the Mumps virus's nucleocapsid protein were generated in yeast as Virus-like particles (VLP), as a strategy to elicit strong humoral and cellular responses. These recombinants were used for experimental immunization of C57Bl/6 mice in homologous (protein/protein) and heterologous (adenovirus/protein) regimes of immunization. These recombinant proteins were able to induce both antibody and T cell-mediated immune responses against PvCSP and therefore could be good candidates for clinical trials aiming at the development of a universal vaccine against P. vivax malaria. Based on that, our objective in the present project is to evaluate the protective efficacy of these vaccine formulations against experimental challenge of immunized mice. For this, transgenic P. berghei/P. vivax parasites developed and maintained in University of Oxford will be used to infect C57Bl/6 mice immunized using homologous and heterologous regimes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GIMENEZ, ALBA MARINA; SALMAN, AHMED M.; MARQUES, RODOLFO F.; LOPEZ-CAMACHO, CESAR; HARRISON, KATE; KIM, YOUNG CHAN; JANSE, CHRIS J.; SOARES, IRENE S.; REYES-SANDOVAL, ARTURO. A universal vaccine candidate against Plasmodium vivax malaria confers protective immunity against the three PvCSP alleles. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 11, n. 1, SEP 9 2021. (12/13032-5, 16/26123-0, 14/18102-7)