Safety, immunogenicity and duration of protection of a candidate malaria vaccine in Mozambique / Seguridad, inmunogenicidad y duración de protección del candidato a vacuna contra la malaria en Mozambique

Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites remains a huge public health problem and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among children and infants. The parasite and its vector – the Anopheles spp mosquito - have tremendous adaptability capacities, inclu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Aide, Pedro Carlos Paulino
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/34700
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/34700
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/51420
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Malària
Vacuna de la malària
Medicina preventiva
Malaria
Malaria vaccine
Preventive medicine
Descripción
Sumario:Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites remains a huge public health problem and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among children and infants. The parasite and its vector – the Anopheles spp mosquito - have tremendous adaptability capacities, including the acquisition of resistance to anti-malarial drugs and insecticides, making the development of new preventive tools, such as a safe and effective vaccine, a key element to counter balance this tendency. The most advanced malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S/AS has progressed to a Phase III trial through a research and development plan as a result of an unforeseen partnership between African, European and American research institutions together with GSK Biologicals and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI). This thesis describes some critical stages of the clinical development plan of this vaccine, reporting clinical trials of the RTS/AS candidate malaria vaccine conducted in Mozambican children and infants. Here we illustrates the assessment of the RTS,S/AS02D safety, humoral and cellular mediated immune responses and the duration of protection over a one year period in infants. We also provide a detailed immunogenicity data of 4 years of follow-up of children aged 1 to 4 years by the time of immunization with RTS,S/AS02A. These studies principally show that the vaccine is safe, well tolerated and highly immunogenic, eliciting both humoral and cell-mediated antibodies. The vaccine also protects children and infants against clinical malaria. Importantly, they also describe for the first time an association between the risk of clinical malaria and Plasmodium falciparum anticircumsporozoite antibody titters. The presented results support the hypothesis that developing a safe, immunogenic and efficacious malaria vaccine is feasible and, together with other studies, they should be the basis for the registry process of what should be the first generation of vaccines against malaria.