A malaria vaccine candidate based on an epitope of the Plasmodium falciparum RH5 protein

Background The Plasmodium falciparum protein RH5 is an adhesin molecule essential for parasite invasion of erythrocytes. Recent studies show that anti-PfRH5 sera have potent invasion-inhibiting activities, supporting the idea that the PfRH5 antigen could form the basis of a vaccine. Therefore, epitopes recognized by neutralizing anti-PfRH5 antibodies could themselves be effective vaccine immunogens if presented in a sufficiently immunogenic fashion. However, the exact regions within PfRH5 that are targets of this invasion-inhibitory activity have yet to be identified. Methods A battery of anti-RH5 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were produced and screened for their potency by inhibition of invasion assays in vitro. Using an anti-RH5 mAb that completely inhibited invasion as the selecting mAb, affinity-selection using random sequence peptide libraries displayed on virus-like particles of bacteriophage MS2 (MS2 VLPs) was performed. VLPs were sequenced to identify the specific peptide epitopes they encoded and used to raise specific antisera that was in turn tested for inhibition of invasion. Results Three anti-RH5 monoclonals (0.1 mg/mL) were able to inhibit invasion in vitro by >95%. Affinity-selection with one of these mAbs yielded a VLP which yielded a peptide whose sequence is identical to a portion of PfRH5 itself. The VLP displaying the peptide binds strongly to the antibody, and in immunized animals elicits an anti-PfRH5 antibody response. The resulting antisera against the specific VLP inhibit parasite invasion of erythrocytes more than 90% in vitro. Conclusions Here, data is presented from an anti-PfRH5 mAb that completely inhibits erythrocyte invasion by parasites in vitro, one of the few anti-malarial monoclonal antibodies reported to date that completely inhibits invasion with such potency, adding to other studies that highlight the potential of PfRH5 as a vaccine antigen. The specific neutralization sensitive epitope within RH5 has been identified, and antibodies against this epitope also elicit high anti-invasion activity, suggesting this epitope could form the basis of an effective vaccine against malaria.