Malaria vaccine target’s invasion partner uncovered

P113 protein discovered to be part of a bridge between the parasite and red blood cell A team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has discovered how a promising malarial vaccine target – the protein RH5 – helps parasites to invade human red blood cells. Published in Nature Communications, the study reveals that a previously mysterious protein on the surface of the parasite called P113 anchors the RH5 protein, and provides a molecular bridge between the parasite and a red blood cell. The discovery could be used to make a more effective malaria vaccine. More than 200 million people a year are infected with malaria and the disease caused the deaths of nearly half a million people worldwide in 2015. Children under the age of five made up 70 percent of these deaths. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites which are spread by infected mosquitos and an effective vaccine would vastly improve the lives...