Recombinant Outer Membrane Vesicles as a Novel Adjuvant for a Malaria Vaccine

Plasmodium falciparum is the most fatal species of the malaria protozoan parasite infecting humansThe ability to control disease or outbreaks of Pfalciparum malaria with a vaccine has eluded investigators for decadesInnovative adjuvants for malaria vaccines are urgently needed to provide long lasting immune responses and high levels of inhibitory antibodiesWe propose to develop a novel malaria vaccine candidate with outer membrane vesiclesOMVsderived from a detoxified strain of Escherichia coliwhich we have shown to be highly effective for multiple strains of influenza in both mice and ferretsWe propose to compare the potency of the OMVs with standard adjuvants by measuring cellular and antibody responsesincluding parasite developmentand to initiate the work required for scale up process development of the rOMV platformTo induce long lived immune responseswe also propose to formulate the rOMVs with poly lactide co glycolidePLGAwhich we have found works well in influenza modelsWe propose to measure immune responses one year after immunizationAfter successfully delivering an effective transmission blocking vaccine candidate for malariawe will propose additional formulation and analytical work to develop a thermostable vaccine product