The potent protective immunity against malaria induced by immunization of mice and humans with radiation–attenuated
Plasmodium
spp. sporozoites is thought to be mediated primarily by T–cell responses directed against infected hepatocytes. This has led to considerable efforts to develop subunit vaccines that duplicate this protective immunity, but a universally effective vaccine is still not available and
in vitro
correlates of protective immunity have not been established. Contributing to this delay has been a lack of understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the protection. There are now data indicating that CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, cytokines, and nitric oxide can all mediate the elimination of infected hepatocytes
in vitro
and
in vivo
. By dissecting the protection induced by immunization with irradiated sporozoite, DNA and synthetic peptide–adjuvant vaccines, we have demonstrated that different T–cell–dependent immune responses mediate protective immunity in the same inbred strain of mouse, depending on the method of immunization. Furthermore, the mechanism of protection induced by a single method of immunization may vary among different strains of mice. These data have important implications for the development of pre–erythrocytic–stage vaccines designed to protect a heterogeneous human population, and of assays that predict protective immunity.
Protective immunity to pre-erythrocytic stage malaria