Plasmodium Pre-erythrocytic Stages: Biology, Whole Parasite Vaccines and Transgenic Models

Malaria remains one of the world’s worst health problems, which causes 216 million new cases and approximately 655,000 deaths every year WHO World Malaria Report, 2011. Malaria transmission to the mammalian host is initiated through a mosquito bite that delivers sporozoites into the vertebrate host. The injected sporozoites are selectively targeted to liver which is the first obligatory step in infection thus making this stage an attractive target for both drug and vaccine development. Research using rodent models of malaria has greatly facilitated the understanding of several aspects of pre-erythrocytic parasite biology and immunology. However, translation of this knowledge to combat Plasmodium falciparum infections still offers several challenges. We highlight in this review some of the recent advances in the field of Plasmodium sporozoite and liver stage biology and in the generation of whole organism attenuated vaccines. We also comment on the application of transgenic models central to Circumsporozoite Protein (CSP) in understanding the mechanism of pre-erythrocytic immunity.