Pregnancy Associated Malaria (PAM) component Var2-CSA DBL3-X

Inventor:                                       Dr Benoit Gamain, Institute Pasteur, Paris

Two papers have been published in:
Malaria Journal 7:170 and
International Journal for Parasitology 37 (2007) 273-283

Pregnancy Associated Malaria (PAM) component Var2CSA

Inventor:                                       Dr Thor Theander, University of Copenhagen

These two proposals were a direct result of the EMVI international meeting on Vaccines against PAM. The full report was published in Trends in Parasitology, May 2004 20(5): 201-4 and is also available under Meeting Reports on this web site.

Pregnancy associated malaria occurs due to the expression of specific antigens which allow the parasite to attach to cells of the placenta. These antigens are obvious vaccine targets provided the following criteria are met:
• The gene encoding the antigen is specifically transcribed in CSA binding parasite isolates or infected placenta.
• The protein binds to CSA.
• The protein shows some degree of conservation over a range of isolates.
• Gene knock-out disrupts ability to bind to CSA.
• Gender specific nature of immune response.
• The antigen is expressed on the surface of infected erythrocytes from infected placentas.

Two papers have been published in:
Exp Parasitol. 2007 Sep;117(1): 1-8. Epub 2007 Mar 14 and
PLoS Pathog. 2006 Nov;2(11):e124