Researchers Finds That New Malaria Vaccine Effective in Clinical Trial; See Details Here!

• comments
• 
• 

The researchers at University of Tubingen in collaboration with the biotech company, Sanaria Inc. have discovered in a clinical trial that a new malaria vaccine called Sanaria PfSPZ-CVac has been almost 100 percent effective. The researchers found that the vaccine was effective when administered at 10 weeks after the last dose of vaccine.

A person can get infected with Malaria parasites when they are bitten by female Anopheles mosquitoes. The Plasmodium falciparum parasite is responsible for most malaria infections and accounts for most of the deaths caused by the condition worldwide.

In the study, the researchers used malaria parasites provided by Sanaria with the vaccine incorporating fully viable malaria pathogens together with the medication to fight them. However, most of the previous vaccines that have been used to combat the condition involved the use of individual molecules found in the pathogen. But they were not sufficient in providing immunity from the disease, according to Eurekalert.

The researchers conducted the study on 67 healthy adult test persons, none of whom had previously been diagnosed with malaria. They found the best immune response in a group, comprising of nine test persons who were administered with the highest dose of the vaccine three times at a four-week interval.

The researchers reported that all nine of the individuals had 100 percent protection from the Malaria at the end of the trial. "That protection was probably caused by specific T-lymphocytes and antibody responses to the parasites in the liver," professor at of the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Peter Kremsner explained.

The researchers then proceed to examine the immune reactions of the participant's body. They were able to identify protein patterns that will make it possible to further improve malaria vaccines. They injected live malaria parasites into the study participants and at the same time preventing the development of the condition by adding chloroquine.

The addition of chloroquine enabled the researchers to exploit the behavior of the parasites and the properties of drug. Once a person gets infected with the disease, plasmodium falciparum parasite migrates to the liver where it reproduces. The human immune system does not respond during its incubation period, but the pathogen does not make the infected person sick at this stage.

In addition, the researchers report that the chloroquine does not take effect in the liver, which makes it incapable of preventing the parasite from reproducing. The symptoms of Malaria only manifest when the pathogen leaves the liver and enters the bloodstream, going into the red corpuscles where it continues to reproduce and spread, according to Science Daily.

However, chloroquine is effective in inhibiting and killing the pathogen as soon as it enters the bloodstream and so the disease cannot break out. The researchers noted that the new vaccine showed no adverse effects on the study participants. They published their findings in the latest edition of Nature.