Abstract
Protective immunity against malaria by 'natural immunization': a question of dose, parasite diversity, or both?
Borrmann, S.
Matuschewski, K.
Curr Opin Immunol. 2011; 23500-8
Permanent descriptor
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2011.05.009Plasmodium undergoes an obligate liver phase before the onset of malaria, which is caused exclusively by cyclic propagation of the parasite inside erythrocytes. The diagnostically inaccessible and clinically silent pre-erythrocytic expansion phase is a promising target for inducing sterilizing immunity against reinfections. Recent studies in rodent and human malaria models called attention to the induction of potent protective immunity by administration of anti-malarial drugs during sporozoite exposure. Here, we review the concept of drug-mediated pathogen arrest as a natural immunization strategy. This previously unrecognized immunological benefit might also open new opportunities for population-wide presumptive drug administration as an adjunct malaria control tool.
