A vaccine to finally cure malaria?
2 Dec 2013 6:26 AM IST
The vaccine has shown promising results in the first clinical trial to test whether it can protect people against the disease.
The trial was carried out by researchers led by Professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, along with colleagues from the biotechnology company Okairos.
Some of the adult volunteers were completely protected against malaria in this initial study of the vaccine’s efficacy, researchers said.
It’s the first time that a vaccine has been shown to have a protective effect through a sufficiently high immune response involving cells called CD8 T cells.
It is CD8 immune cells that are seen to mount a protective response against malaria in similar studies in mice. Every existing vaccine in use - bar one – generates antibodies. But there are two arms to the body’s immune system for fighting infection: antibodies and T cells. And this vaccine aims to stimulate an immune response involving T cells. CD8 T cells are important because they are the primary killer cells in the immune system. They can attack nearly all types of infected cells in this case liver cells infected with the malaria parasite.
The trial was carried out by researchers led by Professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, along with colleagues from the biotechnology company Okairos.
Some of the adult volunteers were completely protected against malaria in this initial study of the vaccine’s efficacy, researchers said.
It’s the first time that a vaccine has been shown to have a protective effect through a sufficiently high immune response involving cells called CD8 T cells.
It is CD8 immune cells that are seen to mount a protective response against malaria in similar studies in mice. Every existing vaccine in use - bar one – generates antibodies. But there are two arms to the body’s immune system for fighting infection: antibodies and T cells. And this vaccine aims to stimulate an immune response involving T cells. CD8 T cells are important because they are the primary killer cells in the immune system. They can attack nearly all types of infected cells in this case liver cells infected with the malaria parasite.
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