{"doi":"10.1128/iai.00211-12","title":"Evaluation of the Immunogenicity and Vaccine Potential of Recombinant Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein 8","abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>The C-terminal 19-kDa domain of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1<jats:sub>19</jats:sub>) is the target of protective antibodies but alone is poorly immunogenic. Previously, using the<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">Plasmodium yoelii</jats:named-content>murine model, we fused<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">P. yoelii</jats:named-content>MSP1<jats:sub>19</jats:sub>(<jats:italic>Py</jats:italic>MSP1<jats:sub>19</jats:sub>) with full-length<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">P. yoelii</jats:named-content>merozoite surface protein 8 (MSP8). Upon immunization, the MSP8-restricted T cell response provided help for the production of high and sustained levels of protective<jats:italic>Py</jats:italic>MSP1<jats:sub>19</jats:sub>- and<jats:italic>Py</jats:italic>MSP8-specific antibodies. Here, we assessed the vaccine potential of MSP8 of the human malaria parasite,<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">Plasmodium falciparum</jats:named-content>. Distinct from<jats:italic>Py</jats:italic>MSP8,<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">P. falciparum</jats:named-content>MSP8 (<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8) contains an N-terminal asparagine and aspartic acid (Asn/Asp)-rich domain whose function is unknown. Comparative analysis of recombinant full-length<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 and a truncated version devoid of the Asn/Asp-rich domain,<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8(ΔAsn/Asp), showed that both proteins were immunogenic for T cells and B cells. All T cell epitopes utilized mapped within r<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8(ΔAsn/Asp). The dominant B cell epitopes were conformational and common to both r<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 and r<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8(ΔAsn/Asp). Analysis of native<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 expression revealed that<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 is present intracellularly in late schizonts and merozoites. Following invasion,<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 is found distributed on the surface of ring- and trophozoite-stage parasites. Consistent with a low and/or transient expression of<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 on the surface of merozoites,<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8-specific rabbit IgG did not inhibit the<jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic>growth of<jats:named-content xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\" content-type=\"genus-species\" xlink:type=\"simple\">P. falciparum</jats:named-content>blood-stage parasites. These studies suggest that the further development of<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8 as a malaria vaccine component should focus on the use of<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP8(ΔAsn/Asp) and its conserved, immunogenic T cell epitopes as a fusion partner for protective domains of poor immunogens, including<jats:italic>Pf</jats:italic>MSP1<jats:sub>19</jats:sub>.</jats:p>","journal":"Infection and Immunity","year":2012,"id":639948,"datarank":0.4493598410330987,"base_score":2.995732273553991,"endowment":2.995732273553991,"self_citation_contribution":0.4493598410330987,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4493598410330987,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":19,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":341249,"name":"Evelina Angov","orcid":"0000-0001-9186-4098","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1663046,"name":"Ana M. Lopez","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":863185,"name":"Hong Zhou","orcid":"0000-0003-0120-3347","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":324086,"name":"Carole A. Long","orcid":"0000-0002-3835-5443","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":527269,"name":"James M. Burns","orcid":"0000-0002-6431-141X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1663045,"name":"James R. Alaro","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-07T04:51:42.171665Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}