[Achievements and perspectives of research into development of a vaccine against malaria].

Abstract

Malaria is caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Every year from 350 to 500 million of malaria cases are recorded with an estimated annual death toll of over 1.1 million deaths, making malaria the global health problem. Malaria deepens the poverty, limits the education and causes absences at schools and workplaces--what makes the progress of civilization and economy slower. This is why beside the classical methods of malaria prevention, such as the elimination of the places of mosquito breeding and, application of insecticides or chemoprophylaxis, the elaboration of effective malaria vaccine is a necessity. Despite considerably high financial investments for long term malaria research, so far it has not been possible to develop an efficient vaccine against this disease. This is why the main topic of the present review is presenting of achievements and perspectives of research on development of vaccine against malaria with special consideration of tested antigens. Our review also contains an attempt to typify the most prospective vaccine. Currently developed and tested vaccines against malaria may be divided in three groups depending on the parasite living stage which the vaccine influences: pre-erythrocytic stage vaccines, blood stage vaccines and transmission blocking vaccines. At the moment it seems that the most promising vaccine against malaria is RTS,S/ASO2A which represent the pre-erythrocytic stage vaccines. However developing a completely safe, efficient and budget-friendly vaccine still remains the far-reaching goal and requires further years of research.