transmission 1

The MVRU team and its partners have been a pioneer in discovering and testing new candidates for malaria transmission blocking vaccines (TBVs). These vaccines aim to interrupt transmission of malaria parasites from an infected individual to mosquitoes. Utilizing laboratory reared An. dirus, a Southeast Asian vector of malaria, and malaria infected blood from volunteers, we have been evaluating TBV candidates since 1998 and participated in a clinical Phase I study for the most advanced candidate Pvs25. Together with Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU), we are in the process of initiating the first Controlled Human Malaria Infection study for Plasmodium vivax in a malaria endemic country.

Our works have contributed to down selection of key candidates for P. vivax malaria TBV. Using mosquito membrane feeding assays (MFA), we have shown that several candidates (Pvs25, Pvs28, Pvs45/58, Pvs230, AnAPN1) can significantly reduce malaria infection of mosquito. In some cases, man-to-mosquito transmission of the parasite can be blocked completely. Our works have provided key vaccine efficacy data essential for advancing vaccine candidates to clinical trials.

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