Malaria vaccine wins Gates Foundation grant

In the quest to rid the world of malaria, there are many avenues of attack. One of the most promising is a malaria vaccine, which could lend a strong protective immune response to multiple species of the malaria parasite.

One such vaccine that is garnering attention is in development by Professor Louis Schofield from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s Infection and Immunity division.

Schofield’s vaccine targets an essential Plasmodium parasite carbohydrate, GPI (glycosylphosphatidylinositol), which is also a toxin produced by the Plasmodium parasite that has previously been identified as a major determinant in the severity and fatality of disease.

Read more about Professor Shofield’s malaria research.

Shoefield’s team has just been awarded a US$1 million ($963,000) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through the Grand Challenges Explorations program to develop the vaccine.

“The anti-GPI vaccine is novel in that it is the first potential antimalarial vaccine that targets a parasite carbohydrate, rather than a protein,” said Schofield.

“Malaria parasites invest considerable effort in evading the immune system, continuously modifying its proteins to avoid detection, which is why a malaria vaccine has continued to be elusive. A vaccine that targets a highly conserved carbohydrate target could be especially effective in treating malaria.”

According to Schofield, a vaccine with anti-toxic properties could also be a highly effective public health tool. “Vaccines against pathogen-derived toxins have been successful against tetanus, diptheria and pertussis [whooping cough], but have not been developed for treating malaria.

“The use of a vaccine with anti-toxin properties could help to diminish the disease burden in countries where malaria is endemic, particularly if used in combination with other prevention and treatment strategies.”

The US$1 million Phase II funding follows on from a one-year Phase I funding project also supported by the Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations program.

“We generated some very encouraging results from the phase I project that indicate the anti-GPI vaccine could be very useful in both preventing and treating malaria,” he said.