The overall objective of this International Center for Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR) in the SE Asia region is to advance knowledge of how national and regional programs to control and eliminate malaria in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu affect the epidemiology, transmission and pathogenesis/immunity of Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. Infection and morbidity in 3 distinct endemic settings which represent a wide spectrum of malaria endemicity (holoendemic in mainland PNG, meso/hypoendemic in East New Britain PNG, and hypoendemic in Western Province, Solomon Islands). A related goal is to build local capacity and infrastructure to monitor, evaluate and guide ongoing and future malaria interventions used by national health authorities in the region. Transmission and Pathogenesis/immunity Research Projects 2 and 3 are integrated with Epidemiology Project 1 that will evaluate in all three endemic sites the changing patterns of malaria infection and disease that result from progressive deployment of similar malaria interventions - free universal long lasting insecticide treated bed nets and rapid evidence based diagnosis of malaria and treatment with artemether-lumefantrine. Research and infrastructure enhancing activities will be served by GCP compliant Database/Biostatistics and Molecular Diagnostics Cores. Unique features of the program include the potential for gaining novel insight into the control of P. vivax relative to P. falciparum given the anticipated greater resilience of the former to control and elimination, improvement of the meager knowledge of anophelines that transmit malaria in this region of SE Asia and the Pacific (primarily An. punctulatus), appreciation of how diminishing transmission affects P. falciparum and P. vivax genetics, and greater understanding of the significance of continuing exposure as a prerequisite for developing and maintaining naturally acquired immunity against malaria and the impact of various interventions on immune-mediated protection. An advantage of an ICEMR in this site Is the opportunity to rapidly transfer research findings to the monitoring, evaluation and implementation goals of national malaria control programs. Synergy among the ICEMR projects and cores and incorporation ICEMR findings into national programs will help answer unresolved key issues related to malaria control and elimination locally and in the SE Asia region.

Public Health Relevance

Research and capacity building activities of this program will be useful to health officials and other stakeholders in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu who are responsible for implementing, monitoring and evaluating malaria interventions that are intended to control malaria (reduce the burden of disease due to Plasmodium spp. in PNG) and ultimately, eliminate malaria (stop transmission by the mosquito vector locally in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu).

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Program--Cooperative Agreements (U19)
Project #
5U19AI089686-04
Application #
8494531
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1-AWA-M (M2))
Program Officer
Rao, Malla R
Project Start
2010-07-01
Project End
2017-06-30
Budget Start
2013-07-01
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$1,512,673
Indirect Cost
$248,152
Name
Case Western Reserve University
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
077758407
City
Cleveland
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
44106
Kurtovic, Liriye; Behet, Marije C; Feng, Gaoqian et al. (2018) Human antibodies activate complement against Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, and are associated with protection against malaria in children. BMC Med 16:61
Koepfli, Cristian; Waltmann, Andreea; Ome-Kaius, Maria et al. (2018) Multiplicity of Infection Is a Poor Predictor of Village-Level Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum Population Prevalence in the Southwest Pacific. Open Forum Infect Dis 5:ofy240
Liu, Eugene W; Skinner, Jeff; Tran, Tuan M et al. (2018) Protein-Specific Features Associated with Variability in Human Antibody Responses to Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Antigens. Am J Trop Med Hyg 98:57-66
Nakajima, Rie; Supnet, Medalyn; Jasinskas, Algis et al. (2018) Protein Microarray Analysis of the Specificity and Cross-Reactivity of Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin-Specific Antibodies. mSphere 3:
Waltmann, Andreea; Koepfli, Cristian; Tessier, Natacha et al. (2018) Increasingly inbred and fragmented populations of Plasmodium vivax associated with the eastward decline in malaria transmission across the Southwest Pacific. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 12:e0006146
Koimbu, Gussy; Czeher, Cyrille; Katusele, Michelle et al. (2018) Status of Insecticide Resistance in Papua New Guinea: An Update from Nation-Wide Monitoring of Anopheles Mosquitoes. Am J Trop Med Hyg 98:162-165
White, Michael T; Karl, Stephan; Koepfli, Cristian et al. (2018) Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum infection dynamics: re-infections, recrudescences and relapses. Malar J 17:170
Hofmann, Natalie E; Karl, Stephan; Wampfler, Rahel et al. (2017) The complex relationship of exposure to new Plasmodium infections and incidence of clinical malaria in Papua New Guinea. Elife 6:
França, Camila Tenorio; White, Michael T; He, Wen-Qiang et al. (2017) Identification of highly-protective combinations of Plasmodium vivax recombinant proteins for vaccine development. Elife 6:
França, Camila T; Li Wai Suen, Connie S N; Carmagnac, Amandine et al. (2017) IgG antibodies to synthetic GPI are biomarkers of immune-status to both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria in young children. Malar J 16:386

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