Malaria remains one of the major health problems in the world. Malaria vaccines are directed against three stages of the parasite: the sporozoites, the merozoites and the sexual forms (gametocytes/gametes). Studies proposed here are related to malaria immunity against the gametes/gametocytes (transmission blocking immunity). In this form of immunity, various mechanisms operate in the midgut of the misquitoes and suppress the infectivity of the parasites. By preventing spread of the diesase via the mosquito vector, immunity against the gametes could reduce the risk of malarial infection to the human population and stop the spread of parasites which may become resistant to other vaccines. Earlier studies have suggested several gamete surface antigens as potential candidates for a transmission blocking vaccine. Various biochemical studies proposed are aimed at characterization of the antigenic nature of the epitopes in these proteins. Their evaluation as vaccine candidate would depend upon successful gene cloning, sequence analysis and expression in an appropriate system.
