| dc.description.abstract | Introduction
There is no approved vaccine for malaria, and precisely how human antibody responses to
malaria parasite components and potential vaccine molecules are developed and maintained
remains poorly defined. In this study, antibody anamnestic or memory response elicited
by a single episode of P. falciparum infection was investigated.
Methods
This study involved 362 malaria patients aged between 6 months to 60 years, of whom 19%
were early-diagnosed people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). On the day malaria was diagnosed
and 42 days later, blood specimens were collected. Parasite density, CD4+ cells,
and antibodies specific to synthetic peptides representing antigenic regions of the P. falciparum
proteins GLURP, MSP3 and HRPII were measured.
Results
On the day of malaria diagnosis, Immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies against GLURP, MSP3
and HRP II peptides were present in the blood of 75%, 41% and 60% of patients, respectively.
42 days later, the majority of patients had boosted their serum IgG antibody more
than 1.2 fold. The increase in level of IgG antibody against the peptides was not affected by
parasite density at diagnosis. The median CD4+ cell counts of PLWHAs and HIV negative
individuals were not statistically different, and median post-infection increases in anti-peptide
IgG were similar in both groups of patients.
Conclusion
In the majority (70%) of individuals, an infection of P. falciparum elicits at least 20% increase
in level of anti-parasite IgG. This boost in anti-P. falciparum IgG is not affected by parasite
density on the day of malaria diagnosis, or by HIV status. | en_US |
