Proteins on the surface of Plasmodium falciparum merozoites are good targets for vaccine development against malaria because they are accessible to antibodies in the plasma. The 19 kDa C-terminus of merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1(19)) has been shown to induce both inhibitory as well as blocking antibodies, the latter blocking the protective effects of the former. Inhibitory antibodies bind to MSP-1(19) and inhibit merozoite invasion of red blood cells (RBC) but the binding of blocking antibodies can prevent binding of inhibitory antibodies thereby allowing the parasite to invade RBC. We constructed a synthetic version of the MSP-1(19) of the P. falciparum using mycobacterium codon usage by assembly PCR. The synthetic MSP-1(19) was mutated at various sites to promote the production of inhibitory but not blocking antibodies as previously reported. The native and mutated MSP-1(19) were cloned and expressed in Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and the expressions of the recombinant proteins were detected by specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) namely, 12.10 and 1E1 against MSP-1(19) using Western blotting. The mutated MSP-1(19) protein reacted with the inhibitory mAb, 12.10, but not the blocking mAb, 1E1, paving the way for the construction of a potential recombinant BCG (rBCG) blood stage vaccine against malaria.
Macrophages are involved in innate immunity against malaria due to their ability to phagocytose infected erythrocytes and produce inflammatory cytokines, which are important for controlling parasite growth during malaria infection. In this study, the ability of a recombinant BCG (rBCG) vaccine expressing the 19-kDa C-terminus of merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP1-C) of Plasmodium falciparum, to stimulate the phagocytic activity and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines by the macrophage cell line J774A.1 was measured at varying times. The results demonstrate the ability of the rBCG construct to activate the inflammatory action of macrophages, which is important as a first-line of defence in clearing malaria infections.