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An AMA1/MSP119 Adjuvanted Malaria Transplastomic Plant-Based Vaccine Induces Immune Responses in Test Animals

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Abstract

Malaria is a tropical human disease, caused by protozoan parasites, wherein a significant number of the world's population is at risk. Annually, more than 219 million new cases are reported. Although there are prevention treatments, there are no highly and widely effective licensed anti-malarial vaccines available for use. Opportunities for utilization of plant-based vaccines as novel platforms for developing safe, reliable, and affordable treatments offer promise for developing such a vaccine against malaria. In this study, a Malchloroplast candidate vaccine was designed, composed of segments of AMA1 and MSP1 proteins, two epitopes of Plasmodium falciparum, along with a GK1 peptide from Taenia solium as adjuvant, and this was expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. Transplastomic tobacco lines were generated using biolistic transformation, and these were confirmed to carry the synthetic gene construct. Expression of the synthetic GK1 peptide was confirmed using RT-PCR and Western blots. Furthermore, the GK1 peptide was detected by HPLC at levels of up to 6 µg g−1 dry weight of tobacco leaf tissue. The plant-derived Malchloroplast candidate vaccine was subsequently tested in BALB/c female mice following subcutaneous administration, and was found to elicit specific humoral responses. Furthermore, components of this candidate vaccine were recognized by antibodies in Plasmodium falciparum malaria patients and were immunogenic in test mice. Thus, this study provided a ‘proof of concept’ for a promising plant-based candidate subunit vaccine against malaria.

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Acknowledgements

This study is based on the first author’s Ph.D. dissertation entitled ‘Development of a plant-based vaccine against malaria’ by Evelia M. Milán-Noris and deposited at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA, 2015. This project was funded in part by CONACYT in Mexico and by the Office of Research project 65-325 of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We would like to thank Dr. Lilia González-Cerón at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico for providing sera from Plasmodium falciparum-positive patients.

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  1. Evelia M. Milán-Noris

    Present address: Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Evelia M. Milán-Noris, John A. Juvik & Schuyler S. Korban

  2. Laboratorio de Biofarmacéuticos Recombinantes, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av. Dr. Manuel Nava 6, 78210, San Luis Potosi, SLP, Mexico

    Elizabeth Monreal-Escalante & Sergio Rosales-Mendoza

  3. Laboratorio de Ingeniería de Biorreactores, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av. Dr. Manuel Nava 6, 78210, San Luis Potosi, SLP, Mexico

    Ruth E. Soria-Guerra

  4. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Osman Radwan & Schuyler S. Korban

  5. Environmental Microbiology Group, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 45469, USA

    Osman Radwan

  6. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    John A. Juvik

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  1. Evelia M. Milán-Noris
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Contributions

ENM, RSG, and SSK conceived and designed research. ENM, RSG, and SRM conducted experiments. OR, JAJ, EME, and SRG contributed new analytical tools. ENM, RSG, and SRM analyzed data. ENM, RSG, SRM, and SSK wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sergio Rosales-Mendoza or Schuyler S. Korban.

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Milán-Noris, E.M., Monreal-Escalante, E., Rosales-Mendoza, S. et al. An AMA1/MSP119 Adjuvanted Malaria Transplastomic Plant-Based Vaccine Induces Immune Responses in Test Animals. Mol Biotechnol 62, 534–545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-020-00271-x

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