Abstract
Much of the gain in malaria control, in terms of regional achievements in restricting geographical spread and reducing malaria cases and deaths, can be attributed to large-scale deployment of antimalarial drugs, insecticide-treated bed nets, and early diagnostics. However, despite impressive progress, control efforts have stalled because of logistics, unsustainable delivery, or short-term effectiveness of existing interventions or a combination of these reasons. A highly efficacious malaria vaccine as an additional tool would go a long way, but success in the development of this important intervention remains elusive. Moreover, most of the vaccine candidate antigens that were investigated in early-stage clinical trials, selected partly because of their immunogenicity and abundance during natural malaria infection, were polymorphic or structurally complex or both. Likewise, we have a limited understanding of immune mechanisms that confer protection. We reflect on some considerable technological and scientific progress that has been achieved and the lessons learned.
Highlights
Plasmodium protozoan parasites P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale (P. ovale curtisi and P. ovale wallikeri), P. malariae, and P. knowlesi can infect humans
Approaches to malaria vaccine development have ranged from traditional to subunit vaccines to newer approaches targeting the inclusion of only defined antigenic regions or critical epitopes[2,3,4]
Summary and Conclusions Efforts to come up with efficacious malaria vaccine continue despite challenges
Summary
F1000 Faculty Reviews are written by members of the prestigious F1000 Faculty. They are commissioned and are peer reviewed before publication to ensure that the final, published version is comprehensive and accessible. The reviewers who approved the final version are listed with their names and affiliations. Any comments on the article can be found at the end of the article
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