Given the low efficacy and other potential limitations of the currently most advanced malaria vaccine candidate (RTS,S, or Mosquirix), a more effective second-generation malaria vaccines is urgently needed.
This project aims to further advance the development of a new asexual blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate, based on the PfRipr5 protein of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which was discovered by researchers in Ehime University in collaboration with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Japan. Different expression systems for the antigen will be tested and compared, subsequently the immunogenicity of the antigen formulated with two different adjuvants already in use in humans will be tested in different model systems. Ultimately, advancing the development of a novel blood-stage antigen that in the future may form part of a more effective multi-antigen-multistage malaria second-generation malaria vaccine.