Approaches Towards a Malaria Vaccine

Abstract

Malaria is a vector-borne parasitic disease with a significant contribution to the public health burden in many tropical regions of Africa, Asia and South America. In 2017 alone, close to 220 million cases of malaria were recorded worldwide, with Sub Saharan Africa and India contributing almost 80% of the malaria burden [1]. The causative agent of malaria are protozoan Apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. Importantly however, only five out of 170 Plasmodium spp. are pathogenic to humans. Among the different species of Plasmodium, P. falciparum is among the most prevalent and causes the highest mortality rates in humans. Mortality rates of malaria are highest in children under the age of 5 due to the lack of strong protective immune responses. Importantly, the current major emerging problem in the public health sector is the continued emergence of parasite resistance to anti-malaria drugs [1,2]. In humans, the life cycle of the parasite (Figure 1) begins with the entrance of sporozoites during the blood meal of an infected Anopheles mosquito. Sporozoites undergo development in liver hepatocyte cells and subsequently emerge as merozoites (liver stage).