title: Towards clinical development of a Pfs48/45-based transmission blocking malaria vaccine.
abstract: Malaria is a devastating vector-borne disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, resulting in almost 0.5 million casualties per year. The parasite has a complex life-cycle that includes asexual replication in human red blood cells, causing symptomatic malaria, and sexual stages which are essential for the transmission to the mosquito vector. A vaccine targeting the sexual stages of the parasite and thus blocking transmission will be instrumental for the eradication of malaria. One of the leading transmission blocking vaccine candidates is the sexual stage antigen Pfs48/45. Areas covered: PubMed was searched to review the progress and future prospects for clinical development of a Pfs48/45-based subunit vaccine. We will focus on biological function, naturally acquired immunity, functional activity of specific antibodies, sequence diversity, production of recombinant protein and preclinical studies. Expert commentary: Pfs48/45 is one of the lead-candidates for a transmission blocking vaccine and should be further explored in clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: a Department for Congenital disorders , State Serum Institute , Copenhagen , Denmark.|b Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.|c Department of Infectious Diseases , Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theisen
authors.affiliation: d Department of Medical Microbiology , Radboud University Medical Center , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Matthijs M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Jore
authors.affiliation: d Department of Medical Microbiology , Radboud University Medical Center , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sauerwein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D017780:Malaria Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D017780:Malaria Vaccines; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit; C084847:pfs48-45 protein, Plasmodium falciparum
keywords: Malaria; Pfs48/45; Plasmodium falciparum; Transmission blocking vaccine (TBV); gametocytes; subunit vaccine