Malaria Vaccine Possible Due To 3-D Protein 'Map'

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has developed a 3-D "map" of a protein that is critical to malaria parasites in the invasion of red blood cells in humans. This map could lead to a potential vaccine for the disease, which claims the lives of 600,000 and endangers 3.4 billion every year, according to the CDC.

The atomic-resolution structure of PvRBP, the protein used by the malaria pathogen "Plasmodium vivax" to infect humans, was developed for the first time in the study. This mapping could allow for the creation of tools that could block the P. vivax infection from occurring in the first place.

"We now basically have a map of where the proteins are binding their receptors, which gives us the instructions we need to begin designing inhibitors that could be used in a malaria vaccine," Dr. Wai-Hong Tham said, according to a press release.

P. vivax is the main causer of malaria and malaria relapses outside of Africa, and has caused disease across southeast Asia, as well as Central and South America. Tham, who led the research along with Dr. Jakub Gruszczyk, said that "P. vivax enters immature red blood cells by making proteins that recognize and bind to receptors on the red blood cell surface," making it essential to understand how malaria gains entry into red blood cells.

What's more, the P. vivax family of proteins the team mapped is nearly identical to the proteins used by P. falciparum, the deadliest of malaria parasites. The proteins are folded in the same way - think origami instructions having a one-step difference - according to the researchers.

"Now that we have an atomic resolution map we hope to identify a common part of the protein that could be used to design a vaccine not only for 'Plasmodium vivax' but potentially for both vivax and falciparum," Tham said. "These two species of malaria are responsible for the majority of malaria infections worldwide, so a vaccine that targets both would be a critical addition to our arsenal."

Malaria has developed resistance to current antimalarial drugs, rendering them less and less effective, and making this development even more essential.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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