NEW YORK – Gene expression signatures may be able to predict which individuals are more likely to be protected by a malaria vaccine before it is administered, a new study has found.
There are nearly 200 million cases and more than 400,000 deaths due to malaria, caused by the mosquito-borne Plasmodium falciparum, each year. While vaccines for malaria are under investigation, such work is hampered by the lack of immune markers denoting protection and the lack of understanding of the mechanisms behind protection.