Complete, long-lasting protection against malaria of mice primed and boosted with two distinct viral vectors expressing the same plasmodial antigen

O Bruña-Romero… - Proceedings of the …, 2001 - National Acad Sciences
O Bruña-Romero, G González-Aseguinolaza, JCR Hafalla, M Tsuji, RS Nussenzweig
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2001National Acad Sciences
We report that complete protection against malaria and total inhibition of liver stage
development and parasitemia was obtained in 100% of BALB/c mice primed with a
replication-defective recombinant adenovirus expressing the circumsporozoite (CS) protein
of Plasmodium yoelii (AdPyCS), followed by a booster with an attenuated recombinant
vaccinia virus, expressing the same malaria antigen, VacPyCS. We found increased levels
of activated CS-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, higher anti-sporozoite antibody titers, and …
We report that complete protection against malaria and total inhibition of liver stage development and parasitemia was obtained in 100% of BALB/c mice primed with a replication-defective recombinant adenovirus expressing the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of Plasmodium yoelii (AdPyCS), followed by a booster with an attenuated recombinant vaccinia virus, expressing the same malaria antigen, VacPyCS. We found increased levels of activated CS-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, higher anti-sporozoite antibody titers, and greater protection in these mice, when the time between priming and boosting with these two viral vectors was extended from 2 to 8 or more weeks. Most importantly, by using this immunization regimen, the protection of the immunized mice was found to be long-lasting, namely complete resistance to infection of all animals 3 1/2 months after priming. These results indicate that immunization with AdPyCS generates highly effective memory T and B cells that can be recalled long after priming by boosting with VacPyCS.
National Acad Sciences