Publication: New insights into acquisition, boosting, and longevity of immunity to malaria in pregnant women
Issued Date
2012-11-15
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ISSN
00221899
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2-s2.0-84867716783
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Infectious Diseases. Vol.206, No.10 (2012), 1612-1621
Suggested Citation
Freya Ji Fowkes, Rose McGready, Nadia J. Cross, Mirja Hommel, Julie A. Simpson, Salenna R. Elliott, Jack S. Richards, Kurt Lackovic, Jacher Viladpai-Nguen, David Narum, Takafumi Tsuboi, Robin F. Anders, François Nosten, James G. Beeson New insights into acquisition, boosting, and longevity of immunity to malaria in pregnant women. Journal of Infectious Diseases. Vol.206, No.10 (2012), 1612-1621. doi:10.1093/infdis/jis566 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/14523
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Title
New insights into acquisition, boosting, and longevity of immunity to malaria in pregnant women
Other Contributor(s)
Burnet Institute
Melbourne School of Population Health
University of Melbourne
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
La Trobe University
Shoklo Malaria Research Unit
Mahidol University
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Ehime University
Melbourne School of Population Health
University of Melbourne
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
La Trobe University
Shoklo Malaria Research Unit
Mahidol University
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Ehime University
Abstract
Background. How antimalarial antibodies are acquired and maintained during pregnancy and boosted after reinfection with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax is unknown.Methods.A nested case-control study of 467 pregnant women (136 Plasmodium-infected cases and 331 uninfected control subjects) in northwestern Thailand was conducted. Antibody levels to P. falciparum and P. vivax merozoite antigens and the pregnancy-specific PfVAR2CSA antigen were determined at enrollment (median 10 weeks gestation) and throughout pregnancy until delivery.Results.Antibodies to P. falciparum and P. vivax were highly variable over time, and maintenance of high levels of antimalarial antibodies involved highly dynamic responses resulting from intermittent exposure to infection. There was evidence of boosting with each successive infection for P. falciparum responses, suggesting the presence of immunological memory. However, the half-lives of Plasmodium antibody responses were relatively short, compared with measles (457 years), and much shorter for merozoite responses (0.8-7.6 years), compared with PfVAR2CSA responses (36-157 years). The longer half-life of antibodies to PfVAR2CSA suggests that antibodies acquired in one pregnancy may be maintained to protect subsequent pregnancies.Conclusions.These findings may have important practical implications for predicting the duration of vaccine-induced responses by candidate antigens and supports the development of malaria vaccines to protect pregnant women. © 2012 The Author.