“This Malaria Vaccine Is Delivered by a Mosquito Bite”
November 22nd, 2024Flashback 2008: Bill Gates Funds Research Into ‘Flying Syringe’ Mosquitoes to Deliver Vaccines:
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded 100,000 dollars each on Wednesday to scientists in 22 countries including funding for a Japanese proposal to turn mosquitos into “flying syringes” delivering vaccines.
Via: Nature:
Scientists have developed a new vaccination strategy for malaria — boosting immunity through bites from mosquitoes carrying a genetically engineered version of the parasite that causes malaria. In a trial, the approach reduced participants’ susceptibility to malaria, potentially paving the way for more effective ways to stop the disease, which infects some 250 million people a year.
“These findings represent a significant step forward in malaria vaccine development,” says Julius Hafalla, an immunologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “The ongoing global malaria burden makes the development of more effective vaccines a critical priority.”
The study, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine on 20 November, exposed participants to bites from mosquitoes that had a modified version of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes malaria. In humans, the parasites travel to the liver and then infect red blood cells. The parasites were engineered to stop developing shortly after delivery into a human. Nearly 90% of participants exposed to the modified parasites avoided contracting the disease after being bitten by malaria mosquitoes.
There are two approved malaria vaccines. Both aim to provide long-term immunity by producing antibodies that block malaria parasites from infecting liver cells, as well as targeting breakthrough infections.
But the vaccines are only about 75% effective, and require booster shots. So immunologists are continuing to explore alternative strategies.
