Focus on Projects: Setting a TRAP for the malaria parasite
The Malaria Vectored Vaccines Consortium (MVVC) is a five-year project set up with the aim of integrating capacity-building and networking in the design and conduct of phase I and II clinical trials in East and West African adults, children, and infants. The overall objective of the project is to develop a safe, effective and affordable malaria vaccine for use by the malaria endemic populations of the world.
One MVVC-funded study (published by Ogwang et al. in Science Translational Medicine) demonstrated that 67% protective efficacy against infection with Plasmodium falciparum can be achieved with a promising T cell-inducing vaccination strategy among adults living in a malaria-endemic area in Kenya.
The heterologous prime-boost immunisation regimen developed at the Jenner Institute, United Kingdom uses the recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63) and the modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), both encoding the malaria antigen ME-TRAP (multiple epitope string and thrombospondin-related adhesion protein). The vaccine stimulates the body’s immune system to produce T cells to protect it from malaria. The phase II clinical trial was conducted at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) field site located in Junju, Kilifi County, Kenya.
Healthy adult male volunteers were randomly allocated to vaccination with either the T cell–inducing vaccine candidates or a control vaccine. Antimalarials were given to clear parasitaemia and frequent blood tests were done to identify new infections with the malaria parasite P. falciparum. Encouragingly, the authors found that the volunteers receiving the T cell-inducing vaccine had a 67% reduction in the risk of malaria infection during 8 weeks of follow-up.
MVVC is funded by EDCTP which granted funding to a total of €6,500,000. Further co-funding is provided by EDCTP member states (Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy; Irish Aid; Medical Research Council UK; and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) as well as project partners. The total budget is €9,500,000.
