title: Evaluation of immunity against malaria using luciferase-expressing Plasmodium berghei parasites.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measurement of liver stage development is of key interest in malaria biology and vaccine studies. Parasite development in liver cells can be visualized in real-time, both in culture and in live mice, using a transgenic Plasmodium berghei parasite, PbGFP-Luccon, expressing the bioluminescent reporter luciferase. This study explores the benefit of using these parasites for the evaluation of immunity against malaria, compared to qRT-PCR techniques in vivo and in vitro.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mice were immunized with either radiation attenuated sporozoites (RAS) or wildtype sporozoites under chloroquine prophylaxis (CPS) and challenged with PbGFP-Luccon. The in vitro transgenic sporozoites neutralization assay (TSNA) was adapted by replacing PbCS(Pf) parasites for PbGFP-Luccon parasites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Application of PbGFP-Luccon transgenic parasites provides live quantitative visual information about the relation between parasite liver load and protection. Moreover, fast and reproducible results are obtained by using these parasites in the transgenic sporozoites neutralization assay, measuring functional antibody-mediated immune responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PbGFP-Luccon parasites are a straightforward and valuable tool for comprehension of the biological and immunological principles underlying protection against malaria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (RUNMC), Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ploemen
authors.forename: Marije
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behet
authors.forename: Krystelle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nganou-Makamdop
authors.forename: Geert-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: van Gemert
authors.forename: Else
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bijker
authors.forename: Cornelus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hermsen
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sauerwein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D056724:Immunity, Humoral; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D059208:Parasite Load; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D034101:Sporozoites / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D002738:Chloroquine; D008156:Luciferases