Specificity of the protective antibody response to apical membrane antigen 1
Details
Publication Year 2001-05,Volume 69,Issue #5,Page 3286-3294
Journal Title
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
Publication Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is considered one of the leading candidates for inclusion in a vaccine against blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Although the ama1 gene is relatively: conserved compared to those for some other potential vaccine components, numerous point mutations have resulted in amino acid substitutions at many sites in the polypeptide. The polymorphisms in AMA1 have been attributed to the diversifying selection pressure of the protective immune responses. It was therefore of interest to investigate the impact of sequence diversity in P, falciparum AMA1 on the ability of anti-AMA1 antibodies to inhibit the invasion of erythrocytes in vitro by P, falciparum merozoites. For these studies, we used antibodies to recombinant P. falciparum 3D7 AMA1 ectodomain, which was prepared for testing in early clinical trials. Antibodies were raised in rabbits to the antigen formulated in Montanide ISA720, and human antibodies to AMA1 were isolated by affinity purification from the plasma of adults living in regions of Papua Nem Guinea where malaria Is endemic. Both rabbit and human anti-AMA1 antibodies were found to be strongly inhibitory to the invasion of erythrocytes by merozoites from both the homologous and two heterologous lines of P, falciparum. The inhibitory antibodies targeted both conserved and strain-specific epitopes within the ectodomain of AMA1; however, it appears that the majority of these antibodies reacted with strain-specific epitopes in domain I, the N-terminal disulfide-bonded domain, which is the most polymorphic region of AMA1.
Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
Keywords
GROWTH IN-VITRO; PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM; MEDIATED INHIBITION; MALARIA PARASITES; SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS; SURFACE-ANTIGEN; FULL-LENGTH; AMA-1; PROTEINS; KNOWLESI
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Creation Date: 2001-05-01 12:00:00
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