For the first time, a malaria vaccine that uses the entire
malaria parasite has proven safe and shown promise to produce a
strong immune response in a clinical trial, according to a new
study co-authored by researchers at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development. The vaccine
is unique in that it employs the entire malaria parasite, while
most experimental malaria vaccines consist of just one or at
most a few proteins found in the parasite. Researchers found
that the vaccine the first whole parasite vaccine to be approved
by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for clinical trials could
provide unprecedented immune responses against malaria when
administered intravenously. The study was published online in
the journal Science this week (www.sciencexpress.org). "This is
the first whole organism malaria vaccine ever produced," says
Kirsten Lyke, M.D., associate professor of medicine and a
research scientist at the Center for Vaccine Development at the
University of Maryland Sch