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Given that mosquitoes acquire malaria parasites from infected humans, preventing the infection of mosquitoes should control the spread of this disease. Pfs25 is a surface protein of the Plasmodium falciparum ookinete that is expressed only during the mosquito stage of the malaria life cycle; tested individuals living in endemic regions have shown no antibody response to it. Researchers at the NIH are now investigating a vaccine that targets this protein.
The researchers created candidate vaccines using Pfs25 conjugated to itself, to recombinant Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A, or to ovalbumin and tested these vaccines in mice. After three injections, each of the candidate conjugate vaccines generated significantly higher antibody titers th…