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Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein (DBP) is vital for parasite development, thereby making this molecule a good vaccine candidate. Preclinical development of a P. vivax vaccine often involves use of primate models prior to testing efficacy in humans, but primate isolates are poorly characterized. We analyzed the complete gene coding for the DBP in several P. vivax isolates that are used for experimental primate infections and compared these sequences with the Salvador I DBP isolate, which is being used for vaccine development. Our results affirm that primate-adapted isolates are genetically similar to P. vivax circulating in humans, but variability is greatest in the putative target of protective antibodies. In addition, some P. vivax isolates contain multiple genetically different clones. Testing a DBP vaccine may therefore be complicated by heterogeneity and diversity of the P. vivax isolates available for in vivo challenge.
Received September 9, 2008. Accepted for publication September 24, 2008.
Financial support: This study was supported by grant R01AI064478-01A1 from the National Institutes of Health.
* Address correspondence to John H. Adams, Global Health Infectious Disease Research, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 304, Tampa, FL 33612. E-mail: jadams3{at}health.usf.edu
Authors addresses: Francis B. Ntumngia and John H. Adams, Global Health Infectious Disease Research, University of South Floida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 304, Tampa, FL 33612. Amy M. McHenry, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556. John W. Barnwell, Malaria Branch, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333. Jennifer Cole-Tobian and Christopher L. King, Center for Global Health and Disease, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106.
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