Vaccines (Jul 2020)

Progress in the Development of Subunit Vaccines against Malaria

  • Mariusz Skwarczynski,
  • Saranya Chandrudu,
  • Berta Rigau-Planella,
  • Md. Tanjir Islam,
  • Yee S. Cheong,
  • Genan Liu,
  • Xiumin Wang,
  • Istvan Toth,
  • Waleed M. Hussein

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8030373
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 3
p. 373

Abstract

Read online

Malaria is a life-threatening disease and one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the human population. The disease also results in a major socio-economic burden. The rapid spread of malaria epidemics in developing countries is exacerbated by the rise in drug-resistant parasites and insecticide-resistant mosquitoes. At present, malaria research is focused mainly on the development of drugs with increased therapeutic effects against Plasmodium parasites. However, a vaccine against the disease is preferable over treatment to achieve long-term control. Trials to develop a safe and effective immunization protocol for the control of malaria have been occurring for decades, and continue on today; still, no effective vaccines are available on the market. Recently, peptide-based vaccines have become an attractive alternative approach. These vaccines utilize short protein fragments to induce immune responses against malaria parasites. Peptide-based vaccines are safer than traditional vaccines, relatively inexpensive to produce, and can be composed of multiple T- and B-cell epitopes integrated into one antigenic formulation. Various combinations, based on antigen choice, peptide epitope modification and delivery mechanism, have resulted in numerous potential malaria vaccines candidates; these are presently being studied in both preclinical and clinical trials. This review describes the current landscape of peptide-based vaccines, and addresses obstacles and opportunities in the production of malaria vaccines.

Keywords