s230 and s48/45 Fusion Proteins Elicit Strong Transmission-Blocking Antibody Responses Against .

The s230 and s48/45 proteins are expressed during transmission from man to mosquito and are leading candidates for a malaria transmission blocking vaccine. Individually they generate transmission blocking (TB) antibodies in rodent models. Whether the single protein vaccines are suitable to use in field settings will primarily depend on their potency to elicit functional antibodies.

Controlled Human Malaria Infection with Graded Numbers of NF135.C10- or NF166.C8-Infected Mosquitoes.

Controlled human malaria infections (CHMIs) with () parasites are well established. Exposure to five (NF54)-infected mosquitoes results in 100% infection rates in malaria-naïve volunteers. Recently clones NF135.

The Complement System Contributes to Functional Antibody-Mediated Responses Induced by Immunization with Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Sporozoites.

Long-lasting and sterile homologous protection against malaria can be achieved by the exposure of malaria-naive volunteers under chemoprophylaxis to -infected mosquitoes (chemoprophylaxis and sporozoite [CPS] immunization). While CPS-induced antibodies neutralize sporozoite infectivity and , antibody-mediated effector mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether complement contributes to CPS-induced preerythrocytic immunity.

A scalable assessment of Plasmodium falciparum transmission in the standard membrane-feeding assay, using transgenic parasites expressing green fluorescent protein-luciferase.

Background: The development of drugs and vaccines to reduce malaria transmission is an important part of eradication plans. The transmission-reducing activity (TRA) of these agents is currently determined in the standard membrane-feeding assay (SMFA), based on subjective microscopy-based readouts and with limitations in upscaling and throughput.

Methods: Using a Plasmodium falciparum strain expressing the firefly luciferase protein, we present a luminescence-based approach to SMFA evaluation that eliminates the requirement for mosquito dissections in favor of a simple approach in which whole mosquitoes are homogenized and examined directly for luciferase activity.

The relevance and applicability of oocyst prevalence as a read-out for mosquito feeding assays.

Mosquito feeding assays are important in evaluations of malaria transmission-reducing interventions. The proportion of mosquitoes with midgut oocysts is commonly used as an outcome measure, but in natural low intensity infections the effect of oocyst non-rupture on mosquito infectivity is unclear. By identifying ruptured as well as intact oocysts, we show that in low intensity P.