Safety and Efficacy of Immunization with a Late-Liver-Stage Attenuated Malaria Parasite.

Background: Currently licensed and approved malaria subunit vaccines provide modest, short-lived protection against malaria. Immunization with live-attenuated malaria parasites is an alternative vaccination strategy that has potential to improve protection.

Methods: We conducted a double-blind, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety, side-effect profile, and efficacy of immunization, by means of mosquito bites, with a second-generation genetically attenuated parasite (GA2) - a single knockout NF54 parasite (sporozoite form) with extended development into the liver stage.

Detailing organelle division and segregation in Plasmodium falciparum.

The malaria-causing parasite, P. falciparum, replicates through schizogony, a tightly orchestrated process where numerous daughter parasites are formed simultaneously. Proper division and segregation of one-per-cell organelles, like the mitochondrion and apicoplast, are essential, yet remain poorly understood.

A Pfs48/45-based vaccine to block Plasmodium falciparum transmission: phase 1, open-label, clinical trial.

Background: The stalling global progress in malaria control highlights the need for novel tools for malaria elimination, including transmission-blocking vaccines. Transmission-blocking vaccines aim to induce human antibodies that block parasite development in the mosquito and mosquitoes becoming infectious. The Pfs48/45 protein is a leading Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking vaccine candidate.

Quantification of sporozoite expelling by mosquitoes infected with laboratory and naturally circulating gametocytes.

It is currently unknown whether all -infected mosquitoes are equally infectious. We assessed sporogonic development using cultured gametocytes in the Netherlands and naturally circulating strains in Burkina Faso. We quantified the number of sporozoites expelled into artificial skin in relation to intact oocysts, ruptured oocysts, and residual salivary gland sporozoites.

Detailing organelle division and segregation in .

The malaria causing parasite, , replicates through a tightly orchestrated process termed schizogony, where approximately 32 daughter parasites are formed in a single infected red blood cell and thousands of daughter cells in mosquito or liver stages. One-per-cell organelles, such as the mitochondrion and apicoplast, need to be properly divided and segregated to ensure a complete set of organelles per daughter parasites. Although this is highly essential, details about the processes and mechanisms involved remain unknown.