BACKGROUND Merozoite surface protein 1(42) (MSP1(42)) is a leading blood stage malaria vaccine candidate. In order to induce immune responses that cover the major antigenic polymorphisms, FVO and 3D7 recombinant proteins of MSP1(42) were mixed (MSP1(42)-C1). To improve the level of antibody response, MSP1(42)-C1 was formulated with Alhydrogel plus the novel adjuvant CPG 7909. METHODS A Phase ...

It is well known that exposure to one antigen can modulate the immune responses that develop following exposure to closely related antigens. It is also known that the composition of the repertoire can be skewed to favor epitopes shared between a current infection and a preceding one, a phenomenon referred to as "original antigenic sin." It was of interest, therefore, to investigate the antibody...

Immunizations with Plasmodium falciparum MSP1-42 or MSP1-19 induce antibodies that inhibit parasites in vitro, which correlates with in vivo protective immunity by vaccination. We previously showed that several adjuvant formulations can induce anti-MSP1-19 antibodies in interleukin-6, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, CD80, and CD86 knockout (KO) mice and at levels similar to those obtained in...

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) produces two major secreted proteins, designated here Msp1 (LGG_00324 or p75) and Msp2 (LGG_00031 or p40), which have been reported to promote the survival and growth of intestinal epithelial cells. Intriguingly, although each of these proteins shares homology with cell wall hydrolases, a physiological function that correlates with such an enzymatic activity rem...

Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes often sequester in the placenta of pregnant women, producing placental malaria, a condition that can compromise the health of the developing fetus. Scientists are hopeful that a vaccine can be developed to prevent this condition. Immunological mechanisms responsible for eliminating parasites from the placenta remain unclear, but antibodies to the carb...

A successful anti-blood stage malaria vaccine trial based on a leading vaccine candidate, the major merozoite surface antigen-1 (MSP1), is reported here. The trial was based on Plasmodium cynomolgi, which is a primate malaria parasite which is highly analogous to the human parasite Plasmodium vivax, in its natural host, the toque monkey, Macaca sinica. Two recombinant baculovirus-expressed P. c...

Prenatal exposure to allergens or antigens released by infections during pregnancy can stimulate an immune response or induce immunoregulatory networks in the fetus affecting susceptibility to infection and disease later in life. How antigen crosses from the maternal to fetal environment is poorly understood. One hypothesis is that transplacental antigen transfer occurs as immune complexes, via...

BACKGROUND Although the occurrence, biosynthesis and possible functions of glycoproteins are increasingly documented for pathogens, glycoproteins are not yet widely described in probiotic bacteria. Nevertheless, knowledge of protein glycosylation holds important potential for better understanding specific glycan-mediated interactions of probiotics and for glycoengineering in food-grade microbes...

It is widely believed that subunit vaccines composed of multiple components will offer greater protection against challenge by malaria, and yet there is little experimental evidence to support this view. We set out to test this proposition in the Plasmodium yoelii challenge system in rodents by comparing the degree of protection conferred by immunization with a mixture of merozoite surface prot...

In flowering plants, sequential formation of anther cell types is a highly ordered process that is essential for successful meiosis and sexual reproduction. Differentiation of meristematic cells and cell-cell communication are proposed to coordinate anther development. Among the proposed mechanisms of cell fate specification are cell surface-localized Leu-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-...