After scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute inched closer to developing vaccines for malaria, some other researches followed thereafter. One of them from experts at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) has unraveled crucial findings that could lead to malaria vaccines and drugs.
This finding challenged the initial revelations that the malaria parasite resided in the liver and red blood cells. The investigators presented that the malaria parasite apparently survived in a kind of white blood cell in the spleen and was not just limited to the liver and red blood cells.
“Our research has discovered how white blood cells called dendritic cells, malfunction and shield the malaria parasite from the body’s immune attack. Dendritic cells normally function like generals of an army, giving orders to the body’s immune cells to fight infection,†commented Dr Michelle Wykes, QIMR.
The team believed that this dendritic cell mechanism normally worked fine but the malarial parasites seemingly found a way to trick the system into refraining from functioning against them. This implied that the disease supposedly combated the responses of the immune system.
The analysts put forth that development of drugs and vaccinations which target the infected spleen may unleash a new approach for treatment altogether. Moreover, the researchers are of the opinion that even climatic conditions may be responsible for the spread of malaria afflicted mosquitoes.
The research is published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.