Swiss researchers make progress on malaria vaccine

Swiss researchers get closer to an effective malaria vaccine Keystone-SDA

A Swiss research team has come one step closer to developing an effective malaria vaccine. They have genetically modified the malaria parasite so that it cannot cause malaria.

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In future the weakened parasite could be used as a live vaccine, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) said on Friday. The vaccine was tested on mice. It was effective in mice, the researchers showed in a study published in the journal Plos One.

However, there is still a long way to go before a truly safe vaccine for humans, they said. “For a vaccine that is to be administered millions of times, it must be ensured that the attenuated parasite does not get through in isolated cases and cause malaria,” said Volker Heussler, the cell biologist from the University of Bern responsible for the research project, in the press release.

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Two genes switched off

Previously approved vaccines against malaria consist of a single protein of the malaria parasite. According to the SNSF, the vaccination provides protection in a maximum of 70% of those vaccinated and only lasts for around one year without a booster.

Researchers are therefore looking for a way to produce a more effective vaccine from an attenuated malaria parasite. In a screening process, they tested 1,500 different variants of the parasite, in each of which a different gene had been switched off.

They found a genetically modified parasite that is stopped in the liver before it enters the bloodstream and triggers fever attacks. To make the vaccine safer, they also switched off another gene that was already known to stop the parasite in the liver stage.

For these studies, they worked with the protozoan Plasmodium berghei, which is closely related to the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum but infects mice instead of humans.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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