Targeting the Conserved Fusion Loop of HAP2 Inhibits the Transmission of Plasmodium berghei and falciparum
File(s)1-s2.0-S2211124717316443-main.pdf (2.18 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Inhibiting transmission of Plasmodium is a central strategy in malarial eradication, and the biological process of gamete fusion during fertilization is a proven target for this approach. The lack of a structure or known molecular function of current anti-malarial vaccine targets has previously been a hindrance in the development of transmission-blocking vaccines. Structure/function studies have indicated that the conserved gamete membrane fusion protein HAP2 is a class II viral fusion protein. Here, we demonstrate that targeting a function-critical site of the fusion/cd loop with species-specific antibodies reduces Plasmodium berghei transmission in vivo by 58.9% and in vitro fertilization by up to 89.9%. A corresponding reduction in P. falciparum transmission (75.5%/36.4% reductions in intensity/prevalence) is observed in complimentary field studies. These results emphasize conserved mechanisms of fusion in Apicomplexa, while highlighting an approach to design future anti-malarial transmission-blocking vaccines.
Date Issued
2017-12-05
Date Acceptance
2017-11-03
Citation
Cell Reports, 2017, 21 (10), pp.2868-2878
ISSN
2211-1247
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
2868
End Page
2878
Journal / Book Title
Cell Reports
Volume
21
Issue
10
Copyright Statement
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Grant Number
MR/N00227X/1
n/a
Publication Status
Published