Roos van Schuijlenburg, Samaneh Azargoshasb, Clarize M de Korne, Jeroen C Sijtsma, Sascha Bezemer, Alwin J van der Ham, Els Baalbergen, Fiona Geurten, Laura M de Bes-Roeleveld, Severine C Chevalley-Maurel, Matthias N van Oosterom, Fijs W B van Leeuwen, Blandine Franke-Fayard, Meta Roestenberg
BACKGROUND: Sporozoites (SPZ), the infective form of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, can be inoculated into the human host skin by Anopheline mosquitoes. These SPZ migrate at approximately 1 µm/s to find a blood vessel and travel to the liver where they infect hepatocytes and multiply. In the skin they are still low in number (50-100 SPZ) and vulnerable to immune attack by antibodies and skin macrophages. This is why whole SPZ and SPZ proteins are used as the basis for most malaria vaccines currently deployed and undergoing late clinical testing...
April 19, 2024: Malaria Journal