A CD4(+) T-cell immune response to a conserved epitope in the circumsporozoite protein correlates with protection from natural Plasmodium falciparum infection and disease |
| |
Authors: | Reece William H H Pinder Margaret Gothard Philip K Milligan Paul Bojang Kalifa Doherty Tom Plebanski Magdalena Akinwunmi Peter Everaere Simone Watkins Katherine R Voss Gerald Tornieporth Nadia Alloueche Ali Greenwood Brian M Kester Kent E McAdam Keith P W J Cohen Joe Hill Adrian V S |
| |
Affiliation: | Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. |
| |
Abstract: | Many human T-cell responses specific for epitopes in Plasmodium falciparum have been described, but none has yet been shown to be predictive of protection against natural malaria infection. Here we report a peptide-specific T-cell assay that is strongly associated with protection of humans in The Gambia, West Africa, from both malaria infection and disease. The assay detects interferon-gamma-secreting CD4(+) T cells specific for a conserved sequence from the circumsporozoite protein, which binds to many human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR types. The correlation was observed using a cultured, rather than an ex vivo, ELISPOT assay that measures central memory-'type T cells rather than activated effector T cells. These findings provide direct evidence for a protective role for CD4(+) T cells in humans, and a precise target for the design of improved vaccines against P. falciparum. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|