Author: ["William H H Reece","Margaret Pinder","Philip K Gothard","Paul Milligan","Kalifa Bojang","Tom Doherty","Magdalena Plebanski","Peter Akinwunmi","Simone Everaere","Katherine R Watkins","Gerald Voss","Nadia Tornieporth","Ali Alloueche","Brian M Greenwood","Kent E Kester","Keith P W J McAdam","Joe Cohen","Adrian V S Hill"]
CITE.CC academic search helps you expand the influence of your papers.
Abstract
Many human T-cell responses specific for epitopes in Plasmodium falciparum have been described, but none has yet been shown to be predictive of protection against natural malaria infection1. Here we report a peptide-specific T-cell assay that is strongly associated with protection of humans in The Gambia, West Africa, from both malaria infection and disease. The assay detects interferon-γ-secreting CD4+ T cells specific for a conserved sequence from the circumsporozoite protein, which binds to many human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR types2. The correlation was observed using a cultured, rather than an ex vivo, ELISPOT assay that measures central memory-'type T cells rather than activated effector T cells3,4. These findings provide direct evidence for a protective role for CD4+ T cells in humans, and a precise target for the design of improved vaccines against P. falciparum.Cite this article
Reece, W., Pinder, M., Gothard, P. et al. A CD4+ T-cell immune response to a conserved epitope in the circumsporozoite protein correlates with protection from natural Plasmodium falciparum infection and disease. Nat Med 10, 406–410 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1009 