Malaria
Malaria, a dangerous disease, is most commonly found in tropical regions and is transmitted to humans through the bites of certain species of mosquitoes. Malaria presents itself in an unusual manner as its causes are not contagious and are facilitated by a parasitic organism. Even though malaria is treatable and preventable, it's one of those illnesses which is tough to deal with on a global scale. Our company is equipped to cover all your requirements for malaria treatment and vaccine development.
Introduction to Malaria
Malaria is the result of a combination of numerous factors and one of its primary causes stems from the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes that carry the Plasmodium parasites. The parasite has five different species, two of which, Plasmodium Falciparum and Plasmodium Vivaz, are the most lethal and common strains. As recent as 2022, there were 249 million cases of malaria reported across the globe and the disease leads to death in around 0.26% of cases.
Pathogenesis of Malaria
Falciparum Plasmodium is one of six parasites studied to date that are known to cause malaria and each of them exercises a unique strategy in replicating within the human body. The multitude of morphological states the parasite is able to achieve enables it to inflict harsh clinical symptoms on its host like fever, coma or anemia. Treating these symptoms requires an extensive immune response which unfortunately can be suppressed by many factors like genetic heterogeneity of the parasites and co-infections.
Fig. 1 A model of the interactions between Plasmodium parasites. (Milner D. A., Jr., 2018)Diagnosis Development of Malaria
Immunochromatographic Strip Tests
In this process, the most used RDT method is applied. In this method, antibodies located on the test strip capture malaria antigens found in the blood of the patient. Some of the frequently detected antigens are histidine rich protein 2 (HRP2) and lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH).
Antigen Capture Methods
This method employs antibodies to capture specific malaria antigens and is preferred in differentiating P. falciparum from P. vivax. The method is adequately sensitive and specific but may lack sensitivity in some cases of low parasitemia.
Rapid Tests Combining Nucleic Acid Detection
These methods are not conventional RDTs, but employ some traits of RDTs together with nucleic acid amplification techniques such as PCR. These methods have greatly improved sensitivity and accuracy in diagnosing patients that have low parasite load.
Vaccine Development of Malaria
The vaccine consists of a genetically fused portion of the repeat domain and the C-terminal region, which is displayed as a hepatitis B virus-like particle. The binding of antibodies onto CSP averagely immobilizes the sporozoites which prevents their infection of hepatocytes, which represent the critical level of malaria infection.
RTS’s greatest issues include: it does not create a sustainable form of immunity and its responsiveness decreases with time. Further, parasitized patients are able to infect mosquitoes, which contributes to the transmission of the disease.
Fig. 2 Impact of RTS,S vaccine on malaria infection and transmission. (Zavala, F., 2022)
Our Services
Through our active collaboration with the clients, our company attends to the unique and specific needs for therapy rationalization – in this case for Cryptococcosis. Throughout the course of development, we provide full support, making effective, child specific solutions.
Platforms of Malaria Therapy Development
Animal Models for drug discovery in malaria
We closely model the disease traits and therapy results of Cryptococcosis using several animal models. It enables us to safety and assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
| Mouse | Humanized Mouse | Non-Human Primates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasmodium Species | P. berghei, P. yoelii, P. chabaudi, P. vinckei | P. falciparum | P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, P. knowlesi, and infectious for Old World and New World monkeys (P. cynomolgi) |
| Parasite Cycle Stage | Full cycle, no surrogate for hypnozoite stage | Erythrocyte stage, liver stage, gametocyte | Full cycle, P. cynomolgi hypnozoite stage |
| Host Immunity | Immunodeficient | Immunodeficient | Immunocompetent |
| Accessibility | +++++ | +++ | Highly restricted |
| Complexity | + | +++ | +++++ |
| Cost | ++ | +++ | +++++ |
As well, we have a full line of targeted animal model services focusing on particular biochemical pathways and molecular targets.
If you are interested in our services, please contact us as soon as possible for more information.
References
- Milner D. A., Jr. "Malaria Pathogenesis. " Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, (2018). 8(1), a025569.
- Zavala, F., "RTS,S: the first malaria vaccine." J Clin Invest, (2022). 132(1).
- Garrido-Cardenas, J.A., et al., "Plasmodium genomics: an approach for learning about and ending human malaria." Parasitol Res, (2019). 118(1): p. 1-27.
All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.