Malaria vaccine: the latest news from RTS,S/AS01E vaccine

Abstract

Evaluation of: Bejon P, Lusingu J, Olotu A et al. Efficacy of RTS,S/AS01E vaccine against malaria in children 5 to 17 months of age. N. Engl. J. Med. 359(24), 2521–2532 (2008).

Since the pioneer studies performed by Nussengweig, Vanderberg, Most and Orton on vaccination with irradiated Plasmodium sporozoites, many attempts have been carried out to develop an effective human malaria vaccine. The understanding of the immune mechanisms underlying the protection induced by irradiated sporozoites paves the way to the development of subunit vaccines, such as RTS,S. To date, this vaccine, in combination with an effective adjuvant therapy, is the only one to demonstrate protection in man in artificial challenge as well as in natural field trials. It has been established that this vaccine is capable of eliciting high antibody titers along with strong cell-mediated immunity, which both contribute to the efficacy of the vaccine. The paper under evaluation confirms RTS,S/AS01E as a very promising candidate malaria vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum infection in young infants living in a malaria endemic transmission area.

Keywords::

• efficacy
• infant
• malaria vaccine
• safety

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.