Abstract
Malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.) show a complex pattern of development in the mammalian host and many studies sup port the view that the surface of the sporozoite, injected by the mosquito, has no antigens in common with the erythrocytic stage of development1. For example, immunization with the erythrocytic parasites generates antisera with negligible titre by indirect immunofluorescence to the sporozoite surface2–4. Although monoclonal antibodies prepared against erythrocytic stages were reported to show cross-reaction to the sporozoite stage5, this appeared to be due to cytoplasmic antigens exposed by the method of sporozoite preparation3,5, and in Plasmodium knowlesi, a cDNA clone coding for the circumsporozoite antigen, the major protein of the sporozoite surface, showed no hydridization to mRNA isolated from the erythrocytic stages6. Here, however, we present evidence for an antigenic determinant shared by the sporozoite surface and the erythrocytic stages of the human malaria parasite, P. falciparum. Moreover, our studies show that the antigen(s) elicit a strong immune response in man.
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Hope, I., Hall, R., Simmons, D. et al. Evidence for immunological cross-reaction between sporozoites and blood stages of a human malaria parasite. Nature 308, 191–194 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308191a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308191a0
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