British scientists say they have made a significant breakthrough in the search for an effective and safe malaria vaccine. Richard Pleass and colleagues at the University of Nottingham's Institute of Genetics report developing the first reliable animal model for human malaria, as well as developing a novel therapeutic entity, UPI reported. Using blood from a group of people with natural immunity to the disease, the scientists refined and strengthened the antibodies using a new animal testing system that, for the first time, mimics in mice the way malaria infects humans. When injected into mice, the antibodies protected them against the disease. Pleass and his collaborators in London, Australia and the Netherlands took a closely related mouse parasite and genetically modified it to produce an antigen that the human immune system recognizes. Next, they genetically altered the mouse's immune system to produce a "human molecule" on its white blood cells that recognizes the parasite and, together with antibodies, destroys it. In trials the team showed that human antibodies given to the mice protected them from the parasite. The study appears in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
