Practical example of multiple antibody screening for evaluation of malaria control strategies

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Marie-Louise Varela, David Koffi, Michael White, Makhtar Niang, Babacar Mbengue, Fatoumata Diene Sarr, André Offianan Touré, Ronald Perraut
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2020
• Subjects: Malaria; Plasmodium falciparum; ELISA; IgG; Multiple antigens; Multiplex; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-020-03186-9; https://doaj.org/article/5b8fa6dab73d4fcdaf85882b75e946ba

Abstract Background Ongoing efforts to fight Plasmodium falciparum malaria has reduced malaria in many areas, but new tools are needed to monitor further progress, including indicators of decreasing exposure to parasite infection. Sero-surveillance is considered promising to monitor exposure, transmission and immunity. Methods IgG responses to three antigen biomarkers were evaluated in a retrospective study involving: (i) surveys of 798 asymptomatic villagers from 2 Senegalese endemic settings conducted before 2002 and after the 2013 intensification of control measures, and (ii) in 105 symptomatic individuals from different settings in Côte d’Ivoire. Response to up to eight P. falciparum antigens, including recombinant MSP1p9 antigen and LSA141 peptide, were analysed using multiplex technology and responses to whole P. falciparum schizont extract (SE, local strain adapted to culture) were measured by ELISA. Results MSP1p9 and LSA141 IgG responses were shown to be relevant indicators monitoring immune status in the different study sites both from Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. Between 2002 and 2013, individuals participating in both studies showed higher decline of sero-positivity in young (< 15 years: range 12% to 50%) than older (> 15 years: no decline to 15%) individuals from Dielmo and Ndiop. A mathematical sero-catalytic model from the complete Dielmo/Ndiop survey was used to reconstruct declining levels of sero-positivity in more detail, demonstrating that anti-SE seroprevalence levels most accurately reflected malaria exposure in the two villages. Conclusion For standard screening of population immune status at sites envisaging elimination, the use of ELISA-based assays targeting selected antigens can contribute to provide important epidemiologic surveillance data to aid malaria control programmes.