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New study targets mosquito immune system in fight against malaria
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A new discovery may change the way scientists approach the malaria epidemic in Africa and across the globe. Instead of only creating human vaccines, researchers may one day be able to construct a type of vaccination to boost the mosquito immune system, stopping the transmission of the disease.
An important point was made Dr George Christophides, a professor at the school that published the report, Imperial College in London: "Mosquitoes are known as the 'bad guys' that spread malaria, but these insects are unwilling carriers of the disease, whose immune systems try to fight it, just like ours do." [EurekAlert]
When a mosquito ingests the blood of a person infected with malaria, its immune system is activated. And though it is highly effective (killing up to 90 percent of the parasites), some of the malaria escapes and multiplies. The next time the misquote drops in for a bite to eat, it passes the infection on through its saliva.
Scientists have now identified the molecules involved in the mosquito immune response. Malaria "parasites are detected by a pair of proteins called LRIM1 and APL1C which belong to the mosquito's infection surveillance system. These two 'intruder detection' proteins then activate a third protein in the mosquito's blood called TEP1, which seeks out the parasitic invader, binds to its surface and orchestrates its destruction by punching holes in its cell membrane." [EurekAlert]
With the discovery of the malaria-attacking proteins, researchers hope to find ways to bolster the mosquito immune system, perhaps by quite literally making a mosquito vaccine. If the insect could completely eradicate malaria within itself, then it would never pass it on to humans. As malaria vaccines for humans have proven difficult in the past, this new approach to the problem may prove extraordinary. Since mosquitoes are already extremely efficient at defeating the parasites, it may be the fastest way to stopping transmission.
The next phase of research is to discover how some of the parasites dodge destruction. "Now that we know exactly how [the mosquito] immune system attacks malaria parasites, we need to work out how a small number of parasites manage to evade detection by this system," says Christophides. "Only a few manage to get past the mosquito's [defenses], but that's all that's needed for the disease to be transmitted to humans." [EurekAlert]
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