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  1. [verwijderd] 12 december 2006 10:17
    Tomaatje erbij....
    An edible vaccine for malaria using transgenic tomatoes of varying sizes, shapes and colors to carry different antigens.
    Chowdhury K,
    Bagasra O.
    Department of Biology, South Carolina Center for Biotechnology, Claflin University, 400 Magnolia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, USA.
    Malaria, a disease caused by protozoan parasites of genus Plasmodium, is one of the world's biggest scourges. Over two billion individuals reside in the malaria endemic areas and the disease affects 300-500 million people annually. As a result of malarial-infection, an estimated three million lives are lost annually, among them over one million children (majority under 5 years of age). The mortality due to malaria has increased because of the spread of drug-resistant strains of the parasite, the breakdown of health services in many affected areas, the interaction of the disease with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and possibly the effects of climate change. Infants and young children with malaria often die from severe anemia, cerebral involvement,or prostration caused by overwhelming infection; many new borns die from complications of low birth weight caused by maternal malaria during pregnancy.The scarce economic resources and lack of communication, infrastructure and adequate means of travel in the endemic areas make it extremely difficult to implement traditional infection control measures (i.e., mosquito control, preventive anti-malarial drugs and nets). To make the matter worse, both malarial parasites and its insect vectors are increasingly becoming resistant to anti-malarial agents (chloroquine) and insecticides (both DDT and melathione and related chemicals), respectively. By conventional wisdom, the immune mechanisms responsible for protection against malaria will require a multiple of 10-15 antigen targets for proper protection against various stages of malarial infection. By standard vaccination protocols, such a large number of targets would not be appropriate to be used for vaccination as a single dose due to antigenic competition. It would be almost impossible to immunize over two billion individuals who live in malaria susceptible areas with several carefully crafted immunization schedules delivered 4-6 weeks apart in the form of two different antigens as a single dose. Besides, if immunization schedules could be arranged, the stability of vaccines carrying different malarial antigens, their transport, and the logistics of vaccination would be an almost impossible task to achieve under the current fiscal constraints. We are proposing a unique way to circumvent these logistical difficulties to deliver the malaria vaccines to every susceptible home at a small fraction of a cost. We hypothesize that the anti-malaria edible vaccines in transgenic tomato plants where different transgenic plants expressing different antigenic type(s). Immunizing individuals against 2-3 antigens and against each stage of the life cycle of the multistage parasites would be an efficient, inexpensive and safe way of vaccination. Tomatoes with varying sizes, shapes and colors carrying different antigens would make the vaccines easily identifiable by lay individuals.

    www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcg...
  2. [verwijderd] 13 december 2006 21:27
    publicatie erbij. Lastig fundamenteel verhaal.

    Vaccine. 2006 Nov 7; [Epub ahead of print]
    Expression and immunogenicity of the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein: The role of GPI signal sequence.

    Ophorst OJ, Radosevic K, Ouwehand K, van Beem W, Mintardjo R, Sijtsma J, Kaspers J,Companjen A, Holterman L, Goudsmit J, Havenga MJ.
    Crucell Holland BV, P.O. Box 2048, Leiden 2301 CA, The Netherlands; Center of Poverty-related Communicable Diseases, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Previous studies have shown that the immunogenicity of rodent malaria parasite-derived circumsporozoite protein (CS) can be improved by deleting the glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol (GPI) signal sequence. To study whether GPI signal sequence deletion would also improve immunogenicity of CS derived from the major plasmodium species causing mortality in humans (P. falciparum), we tested different variants of the P. falciparum CS protein in the context of a live vector-based vaccine carrier (rAd35). We demonstrate that deletion of the GPI signal sequence from CS did not result in altered expression or secretion. In contrast, cellular localization was clearly altered, which perhaps helps to explain the significant improvement of anti-CS antibody and T-cell responses observed in mice using deletion variants in the context of the rAd35 carrier. Our results show that rational design of antigens is warranted for further development of malaria vaccines.
  3. [verwijderd] 13 december 2006 21:40
    Scientists Explore New Approaches to Fight Malaria
    By Zulima Palacio
    Washington, DC
    13 December 2006

    watch Malaria Research report / Real broadband - download
    watch Malaria Research report / Real broadband
    watch Malaria Research report / Real dialup - download
    watch Malaria Research report / Real dialup


    Malaria is spread by mosquitoes
    Experts and scientists around the world agree that the fight against malaria will only be won through a combination of approaches ranging from new medications and the final discovery of a vaccine, to the use of mosquito bed nets and residential spraying of insecticide. The John Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in (the eastern city of) Baltimore, Maryland is working in many of the fronts. VOA's Melinda Smith narrates for producer Zulima Palicio.

    Could a genetically modified mosquito be the key element in the fight against malaria? If so, it could be a mosquito genetically altered in this laboratory, so it can no longer carry the deadly parasite which causes malaria.

    Dr. George Dimopoulos and his team at the John Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have made great advances in the study of the "Anopheles gambiae", the mosquito responsible for spreading malaria. "The idea is to develop a genetically modified mosquito which can mix with a natural population and this resistant gene will be inherited by the offspring."

    Dr. Dimopoulos says researchers now know the complete DNA composition of the mosquito. And from its 1500 genes, they have identified ten directly connected to malaria. He says if we could better understand the mosquito's immune system, we could block the parasite in the mosquito, and thus the transmission of malaria.


    George Dimopoulos
    "The research we do is not only going to be used for developing a transgenic mosquito approach but there are other ways… like spread a compound that would kill the parasite in the mosquito and work like an insecticide, but instead of killing the mosquito it would kill the parasite, or we would activate an immune response from the mosquito, to kill the parasite."

    But scientists around the world agree that malaria is one of the most difficult illnesses to control; and that the solution will require a combined action.



    Dr. Diane Griffin is the director of the John Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, one of the few research centers that has decided to study nearly every aspect of malaria, from the mosquito's DNA composition to the human immune system.



    She says the solution to malaria will take more than one approach: "The vaccine, a new drug or a new insecticide or a new diagnostic agent, any one of those things are not the answer in themselves. We really need to tackle the disease in multiple fronts in order to really have an impact on control."



    The Johns Hopkins Institute is also trying to create a new, effective and fast system diagnosing the disease.



    Dr. Griffin adds, "We know that probably more than half of diagnoses of malaria are incorrect and then when the drugs are used in those individuals, that just increases the opportunity for drug resistance, plus is expensive, the newer drugs being used, artemisinin, are expensive compared to the older drugs



    Scientists have determined malaria proteins appear in the urine. Researcher David Sullivan says they developed a test very similar to a pregnancy test, in which the patient's urine is used instead of drawing blood. "This is a positive urine test, the top line means that the test is working, it's a control band. The line towards the bottom shows that it is positive for malaria. We are still refining this. We hope to improve this test and make it more accessible over the next year or two."



    Dr. Sullivan describes another project he is working on. "We have quinine and quinidine… these are drugs for the working laboratory."



    From a drug library of 2000 approved medications, Dr. Sullivan and his team are trying to see if drugs already in use for other illnesses can be used against malaria.



    "Our idea is if we discover a new use for an existing drug, then we could rapidly get into the market. Recently we found an antihistamine. One out of about 20-30 antihistamines that we tested, inhibits the malaria parasite and suppresses the malaria infection, so we are cautiously optimistic."



    Dr. Griffins says, "Its such a cause of death in children and morbidity in adults. More than a million people a year dying of malaria, is a huge challenge."



    Dr. Griffin says there are more victims of malaria now than ever before. One reason is an increase in the world's population. But it is also true that for the last 3000 years the resilient malaria parasite has managed to adapt and survive almost anything that humankind has invented to destroy it.

    www.voanews.com/english/2006-12-13-vo...



  4. [verwijderd] 13 december 2006 21:57
    An effective malaria vaccine by 2025
    Disease/Infection News
    Published: Monday, 4-Dec-2006
    Printer Friendly Email to a Friend




    A report by the world's leading international health organizations today calls for joint action to accelerate the development and licensing of a highly effective malaria vaccine.
    The Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap, a new global strategy, is being launched in Bangkok at the Global Vaccine Research Forum which is taking place from 3 to 6 December.

    "Having a highly protective malaria vaccine and putting it into widespread use in affected areas would be a true achievement for public health. It would fulfill an urgent need," said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research, World Health Organization (WHO). "The Roadmap marks the first concerted global attempt at mapping out a shared plan of action for making a preventive malaria vaccine reality."

    The Roadmap is a pathway towards reaching the goal of developing a malaria vaccine by 2025 that would have a protective efficacy of more than 80% against clinical disease and would provide protection for longer than four years. An interim landmark would be to develop and license a first-generation vaccine by 2015 with 50% protective efficacy against severe disease and death that would last longer than one year.

    Every year, there are 300-500 million cases of malaria and the disease kills more than one million people, mainly African children. The plan calls for the malaria vaccine community - scientists, funding organizations, policy experts and national and global decision-makers - to work together to develop an effective vaccine that prevents severe disease and death caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of the malaria parasite.

    In the WHO South-East Asia Region, which includes Thailand, nearly 19 million estimated cases of malaria and an estimated 99 000 deaths occurred in 2005.

    More than 230 experts representing 100 organizations from 35 countries collaborated to develop and publish the Roadmap over a two-year period. Leading malaria community representatives, experts, and funders held a series of meetings to determine ways to overcome challenges facing the development of a malaria vaccine.

    Challenges include: scientific unknowns such as the lack of full understanding of mechanisms of malaria infection, disease and immunity, inadequate resources, limited private-sector involvement, and uncertain mechanisms for procuring and distributing a successful vaccine.

    The Roadmap puts into motion a strategic plan for aligning research and for developing and making available a safe, effective and affordable vaccine to prevent malaria in children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa and other highly endemic regions. It presents 11 priorities within four major areas of work that must be undertaken - in a more coordinated manner than previously - by diverse parties towards the development of a malaria vaccine. They are:

    Research: standardizing procedures to compare immune responses generated by vaccine candidates, using state-of-the-art approaches and sharing information via the web to strengthen the connection between laboratories and clinics.
    Vaccine development: including pursuing multi-antigen, multi-stage, and weakened whole-parasite vaccine approaches.
    Key capacities: establishing readily accessible formulation and scale-up development capacity, and building good clinical practice clinical trial capacity in Africa and other malaria-endemic areas.
    Policy and commercialization: dialoguing with countries and providing data to facilitate policy decisions; securing sustainable financing; and developing novel regulatory strategies to expedite the approval of a safe vaccine.
    "The pace of progress towards a malaria vaccine could dramatically accelerate if these priority areas are successfully pursued," said Dr Melinda Moree, Director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative which coordinated the development of the Roadmap. "Information sharing and collaboration needs to be stepped up to enhance learning across studies and eliminate redundant work. Above all, continued commitment to this initiative is vital. Developing an effective malaria vaccine is an enormous challenge, but it is within reach."

    The development of the Roadmap was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. These two foundations, as well as others from the "malaria vaccine funders' group", are investing resources into priority Roadmap activities. They have recently been joined in this endeavor by the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena who had never before funded malaria vaccine projects.

    Scientists have recently confirmed that it is possible to develop a malaria vaccine. Currently, there are more than 30 potential vaccine candidates under development-far more than there is capacity or funding to investigate in clinical trials, especially in endemic countries.

    Additional resources will be needed to support research on vaccine candidates and to advance promising candidates through clinical development. New and existing donors are urged to support priorities identified in the Roadmap.

    Malaria vaccine funders' group

    WHO, PATH MVI, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, together with representatives of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI), the European Commission (Directorate General for Research), the United States National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) form part of a malaria vaccine funders' group, with the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research as its focal point. The group's participation and support was critical to the Roadmap process.

    For more information contact:

    Melinda Henry
    WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals
    Telephone: +41 79 477 1738
    E-mail: henrym@who.int

    www.who.int


  5. gogogoo 13 december 2006 22:03
    quote:

    jan941 schreef:

    The Roadmap is a pathway towards reaching the goal of developing a malaria vaccine by 2025 that would have a protective efficacy of more than 80% against clinical disease and would provide protection for longer than four years. An interim landmark would be to develop and license a first-generation vaccine by 2015 with 50% protective efficacy against severe disease and death that would last longer than one year.
    Wat was de efficacy van het GSK vaccin als Prime en met die van Crucell als Booster ook al weer. Was dat niet rond de 80%? Dat zou dan toch veel sneller moeten kunnen.... "very very soon".
  6. [verwijderd] 13 december 2006 22:23
    Nog wat meer geld beschikbaar

    World Bank funds malaria aidFrom correspondents in Washington
    December 14, 2006 08:09am
    Article from: Agence France-PresseFont size: + -
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    THE World Bank today extended $US180 million ($230 million) to help Nigeria fight malaria, the number one killer in Africa's most populous country.

    The World Bank's largest ever anti-malaria credit was announced on the eve of a White House summit aimed at mobilising governments and the private sector to fight the deadly disease in Africa.

    World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said the new money doubled the global lender's anti-malaria funding.

    "Perhaps even more important than the size of the commitment is the coordination of all anti-malaria efforts and the tracking of results in the field that sets this program apart," he said.

    "We must all work to coordinate our efforts and measure results so that we can rid this plague which is killing a million people a year worldwide, most of them children."

    Ninety per cent of malaria deaths are in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. It is the continent's leading cause of death for children under five.

    "Malaria is the single leading cause of illness and death in Nigeria; it is both a cause and a consequence of poverty," Nigerian health minister Eyitayo Lambo said.

    "This scourge which is destroying the future generations of Nigeria can be defeated by the collective efforts of Nigerians and their development partners," he said.

    President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were to host tomorrow's summit, whose participants will include African and UN officials, non-governmental organisations, and stars including South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador campaigning against malaria.

    President Bush last year announced a $US1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) five-year US initiative to halve malaria-related deaths in 15 hard-hit African countries.

  7. forum rang 10 voda 13 december 2006 22:27
    Jan, je bent lekker bezig zeg, een AB, voor je inspanningen.

    groet,

    Voda
  8. aossa 14 december 2006 14:17
    By: ron banged
    Hoping for some Malaria news soon(ok, today)
    www1.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=...

    Big push on for some progress against Malaria, and today is Malaria day at the White House.

    Malaria, which mosquitoes pass on, still kills a million every year The World Bank has announced it will lend $180m in funds to help African countries - especially Nigeria - in their fight against malaria. Nigerian Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said malaria was the leading cause of illness and death in the country.

    The announcement came ahead of a summit at the White House that is to discuss fighting the disease globally.

    Malaria is preventable, but still claims more than a million lives a year - mostly among children in Africa.

    World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said the funding - which doubles the bank's previous anti-malaria assistance - needed to be well co-ordinated and monitored to ensure its effectiveness.

    World killer
    Thursday's summit - which is to be hosted by US President George Bush - will attempt to give momentum to the drive to eradicate the disease altogether.

    MALARIA
    Parasites that cause malaria are carried from human to human by mosquito
    Kills more than a million people a year
    90% of malaria deaths are in Africa
    Malaria is Africa's leading cause of death for children under five

    Malaria global menace
    Political and business leaders will discuss with experts a range of initiatives such as providing millions of specially treated mosquito nets to Africans through an organisation called Malaria No More.

    Its chief executive, John Bridgeland, argues the world is at a turning point.

    "The last generation wiped out smallpox, and largely wiped out polio in the world, and I know that in our generation, malaria will be the disease we conquer on this planet."

    Last year President Bush announced more than $1bn in aid as part of a five-year US initiative to halve malaria-related deaths in 15 African countries which are worst hit by the illness.

    The latest summit aims to go further by mobilising the charitable resources of the US public to donate money on an even bigger scale, says the BBC's James Westhead in Washington.

    Other anti-malaria campaigns have failed in the past.

    But this time big business including the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is getting involved.

    This, combined with recent scientific advances - such as progress towards a vaccine - holds out the best hope yet for defeating one of the world's great killers, our correspondent says.
  9. [verwijderd] 16 december 2006 10:24
    Fraunhofer CMB Receives Gates Foundation Grant To Develop Innovative Malaria Vaccines
    Main Category: Tropical Diseases News
    Article Date: 16 Dec 2006

    The Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology ("Fraunhofer CMB") announced today the receipt of a $3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of transmission-blocking vaccines against malaria. To achieve the goals of this project, Fraunhofer CMB will employ its proprietary platform technology to produce lifesaving vaccines in non-genetically modified plants.

    Despite a century of efforts, malaria remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, causing more than 300 million acute cases and at least one million deaths annually. Malaria is the leading cause of death in young children in Africa, killing one child every 30 seconds.

    Vaccines could provide an effective means for the control and prevention of malaria. Previous research has shown that some human antibodies can reduce the transmission of malaria parasites from humans to mosquitoes. The project announced today will develop vaccine candidates designed to elicit these antibodies, thus preventing further spread of disease in endemic communities.

    "This support from the Gates Foundation will significantly expedite the development of these novel vaccines. This will be an international effort between several institutions, wherein each group will contribute their expertise and know-how," said Dr. Vidadi Yusibov, Executive Director of CMB. "Fraunhofer CMB will work closely with the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch of NIAID of the National Institutes of Health, USA, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, Imperial College London's Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, UK, and The Cell-Free Science and Technology Research Center, Ehime University in Japan to ensure success."

    This is the third grant that Fraunhofer CMB has received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support development of vaccines using its plant- based platform. A $2.7 million award for development of novel subunit vaccines against influenza was announced last week. Fraunhofer CMB was also the recipient of a $1.2 million Gates Foundation grant in 2005 for pre-clinical studies towards the development of a vaccine against African trypanosomiasis.

    About Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB). Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology was established in July 2001 as a partnership between the Fraunhofer Society in Germany and the State of Delaware. CMB is part of Fraunhofer USA, Inc., a non-profit organization that has five research Centers in the United States. CMB is located at the Delaware Technology Park in Newark, Delaware and is a unique institution conducting research in the area of plant biotechnology, developing cutting edge technologies to assist the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of human and animal diseases.

    Fraunhofer USA
    www.fraunhofer.org
  10. [verwijderd] 19 december 2006 18:17
    quote:

    flosz schreef:

    Adenovirus Vaccine for Malaria
    This study is not yet open for patient recruitment.
    Verified by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) August 2006

    Sponsored by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
    Information provided by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00371189 Purpose
    The study’s purpose is to find out if a new malaria vaccine is effective, safe, and tolerated in healthy adults 18 to 45 years of age. The vaccine is expected to be tolerated in humans and boost immunity to malaria. At least 96 healthy male and female volunteers will participate in this study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Volunteers will receive 3 doses of either the new malaria vaccine being or a placebo (contains no vaccine) by injection into the shoulder muscle at 0, 1 and 6 months. Investigators will look at the safety and effectiveness of increasing dosage strengths of the vaccine. Increasing the dosage will proceed only after a review of the 2-week safety data of the 2 initial doses of the prior dosage level. Participants will have 13 study visits and complete a Memory Aid (study diary) at home. Blood will be drawn 7 times from each volunteer during participation in the study. Each participant will be followed for about 1 year.

    Condition Intervention Phase
    Malaria
    Vaccine: Ad35, CS
    Phase I

    MedlinePlus related topics: Malaria
    Study Type: Interventional
    Study Design: Prevention, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo Control, Parallel Assignment, Safety Study
    Official Title: A Phase I Randomized, Controlled, Dosage-Escalation Trial to Evaluate the Immunogenicity, Safety, and Reactogenicity of an Adenovirus Type 35 Based Circumsporozoite Malaria Vaccine in Healthy Adults 18 to 45 Years of Age
    Further study details as provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):

    Expected Total Enrollment: 96
    The purpose of this phase I, randomized, controlled, dosage-escalation trial is to evaluate the immunogenicity, safety, and tolerability of an Adenovirus Type 35 Based Circumsporozoite Malaria vaccine in healthy adults 18 to 45 years of age. At least 96 healthy male and female subjects aged 18 to 64 years will be recruited in Nashville, Tennessee for this study conducted at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Subjects will be randomized in a 5:1 ratio to receive 3 doses of the Adenovirus Type 35 Circumsporozoite (Ad35.CS) Malaria Vaccine or vaccine formulation buffer control by the intramuscular route at 0, 1 and 6 months. The safety and immunogenicity of ascending dosages of the vaccine will be assessed. Fifteen subjects will receive vaccine at each of the following dosage levels: 10 [to the 8th power] vp/ml and 10 [to the 9th power] vp/ml with three subjects receiving control at each of these dosage levels. Twenty-five subjects will receive vaccine at each of the next dosage levels of 10 [to the 10th power] vp/ml and 10 [to the 11th power] vp/ml with five subjects receiving control at each of these dosage levels. Dosage escalation will proceed only after review of the 2-week safety data of the 2 initial doses of the prior dosage level. The primary objective is to assess the safety and reactogenicity of ascending dosages of Adenovirus Type 35 based circumsporozoite malaria vaccine among healthy subjects given in 3 intramuscular doses at 0, 1 and 6 months. The secondary objective is to evaluate the immunogenicity of the Adenovirus Type 35 based circumsporozoite malaria vaccine through performance of Humoral Immune Assays (ELISA [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay] for antibodies to circumsporozoite antigen and Adenovirus Neutralization Assay for neutralizing antibodies to Adenovirus type 35) and Cellular Immune Assays (Elispot and Flow Cytometry) for CS-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses. The primary outcome measure will be frequency and severity of local, systemic, and safety laboratory adverse events. The secondary outcome measures will be: 1) antibody titers against the malaria circumsporozoite antigen via ELISA, 2) neutralizing antibody titers against Adenovirus type 35 by Adenovirus Neutralization Assay, and 3) T cell responses against the malaria circumsporozoite antigen by Elispot and Flow Cytometry.

    www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT003...

    ***********************************
    A malaria vaccine is also expected to enter a Phase I trial in the third quarter of 2006 at Vanderbilt University in the US. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 76 healthy volunteers will include dose-escalation studies and multiple vaccination regimens. Studies in large animal models have shown that Crucell's recombinant Ad35 vaccine provides a demonstrated higher level of protection than the existing RTS,S vaccines.

    www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

    Het was even wachten..........

    www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...
    www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

    Great!
  11. [verwijderd] 20 december 2006 07:29
    EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
    Monday, December 18, 2006
    5:00 PM ET

    Malaria Vaccine Primes Victims’ Blood to Eliminate Parasite From Mosquitoes

    Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that could, theoretically, eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions, by eradicating the malaria parasite from an area's mosquitoes.
    The vaccine, so far tested only in mice, would prompt the immune system of a person who receives it to eliminate the parasite from the digestive tract of a malaria-carrying mosquito, after the mosquito has fed upon the blood of the vaccinated individual. The vaccine would not prevent or limit malarial disease in the person who received it.
    An article describing this work was published on the Web site of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The vaccine was developed with conjugate technology, which joins or "conjugates" molecules the immune system has great difficulty recognizing to molecules the immune system can recognize easily. Primed by the conjugate vaccine,the immune system begins making antibodies — immune proteins that target specific molecules. The antibodies then eliminate molecules the immune system would fail to detect.
    "With conjugate technology, NIH researchers have developed effective vaccines against such scourges as Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis and typhoid fever," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health. "The experimental malaria vaccine shows great promise for combating a terrible disease that exacts a devastating toll on the world's children."
    The vaccine was developed by researchers in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Laboratory of Developmental and Molecular Immunity, in partnership with researchers in the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biotechnology Unit of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
    The study authors wrote that malaria kills more than one million children each year. The disease can result in severe headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting. Malaria is caused by a single celled parasite, Plasmodium. In all, four species of Plasmodium cause malaria in people, with Plasmodium falciparum causing the most severe form. The malarial parasite spends part of its life cycle in humans, and part in mosquitoes. The parasite is injected into an individual by the bite of an infected mosquito. Numerous experimental vaccines have been tried against the form of the parasite that resides in humans, but have been unsuccessful or produced limited immunity. The Plasmodium cells escape the human immune system by hiding in liver and blood cells, making them difficult to target with a vaccine. During the human phase of the infection, these cells, for the most part, exist in an asexual form.
    Some of the Plasmodium cells, however, transform into gametocytes — the sexual forms of the parasite that are equivalent to sperm and eggs. Fertilization takes place in the mosquito gut, after which the parasite imbeds itself in the gut lining. There, it passes through discrete stages, before migrating to the insect's salivary glands, where it is passed on to the next host through a mosquito bite.
    The protein Pfs25 (Plasmodium falciparum surface protein 25) is found only on the surface of the ookinette, a stage of the parasite living in the mosquito gut, and does not appear on any other stage of the parasite. When injected into human volunteers, Pfs25 fails to generate a sufficient level of antibodies to target the parasite.
    In their article, the researchers described several strategies for using conjugate technology to make an effective vaccine based on Pfs25. These consisted of chemically linking numerous Pfs25 molecules to each other and to other proteins: Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A, a protein from a species of bacteria that infects people with weakened immune systems, and ovalbumin, a protein found in egg whites. All of the conjugates produced high levels of antibodies in mice. Adsorbing the conjugate molecules to the surface of molecules of aluminum hydroxide produced even higher levels of antibodies. (Adsorption is a chemical process in which one molecule accumulates on the surface of another, forming a molecular or atomic film.)
    The researchers also discovered that the ability of the mice to produce antibodies to the vaccine increased with time. In fact, the animals produced higher levels of antibodies when they were tested three and seven months after their initial set of immunizations than they did one week after their immunizations were completed.
    Next, the researchers fed serum containing the antibodies to mosquitoes carrying Plasmodium falciparum. (Serum is the fluid from which blood cells and clotting factors have been removed.) Microscopic examination of the mosquito digestive tracts revealed that the antibodies were capable of completely eliminating the ookinettes.
    The study authors noted that Psv25H, a molecule similar to Pfs25, is found on the surface of ookinettes of another species of Plasmodium that causes malaria, Plasmodium vivax. They wrote that the conjugate technology could be easily adapted to make a vaccine against Psv25H.
    Additional information on Malaria is available from the NIAID Web site at www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/malari...
    The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's Web site at www.nichd.nih.gov/.
    NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on basic immunology, transplantation and immune-related disorders, including autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergies.
    NIDDK conducts and supports research on diabetes; endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans.
    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    www.nih.gov/news/pr/dec2006/nichd-18.htm
  12. [verwijderd] 20 december 2006 07:31
    En via de site v.d. "Beeb":

    Stopping malaria before the bite

    Researchers are developing a malaria vaccine which blocks development of the disease-causing parasite while it is still inside the mosquito.
    The vaccine targets Pfs25, a protein key to the parasite's development during its time in the mosquito's gut.

    When a mosquito bites a vaccinated person it would ingest antibodies which would block the protein's action.
    The US National Institutes of Health study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
    The researchers said the vaccine had the potential to eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions.
    However, experts warned that the vaccine would not prevent or limit disease in the person who had been vaccinated, and predicted this could make it difficult to sell the idea to infected communities.
    Tests of other malaria vaccines are under way, but as yet none has been licensed for widespread use.
    Most attempt to neutralise the malaria parasite - Plasmodium - while it is in humans.
    But this has proved difficult, because Plasmodium cells escape the human immune system by hiding in liver and blood cells.
    Big killer
    Malaria kills between one and three million people worldwide each year, with most of the deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.
    More than a million children in Africa die from malaria each year.
    The latest vaccine has so far only been tested in mice.
    It is a combination of the Pfs25 protein, and other molecules which are more easily recognised by the immune system, and more likely to spur it into action.
    The combination triggers the production of large quantities of antibodies which, when ingested by the mosquito, zero in on the malaria parasite in its gut.
    A microscopic analysis of the guts of mosquitoes fed a serum containing the antibodies triggered by vaccination in the mice, showed that they were completely free of the malaria parasites.
    In fact, the mice produced higher levels of antibodies when they were tested three and seven months after their initial set of jabs, than they did after one week.
    The same technology has already been used to develop vaccines against diseases such as typhoid fever.
    Dr Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, said: "The experimental malaria vaccine shows great promise for combating a terrible disease that exacts a devastating toll on the world's children."
    However, Dr Ron Behrens, a malaria expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the potential problem with the vaccine was that it would protect communities, but not the individual to whom the jab was administered.
    "Until now all other vaccines that have been developed have offered the individual some form of protection," he said.
    "In this case, the individual has got to make a sacrifice in order to protect the community, and that might make it very difficult to sell."
    The vaccine has been developed to combat Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the most severe form of malaria.
    But the researchers said it was also likely to be effective against another form of the parasite, Plasmodium vivax.
    news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6189161.stm
  13. [verwijderd] 20 december 2006 19:22
    Integrated BioPharma Announces New Commitment to Use Its AIPwLV(TM) Platform for Product Development



    HILLSIDE, N.J., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Integrated BioPharma, Inc. (AMEX:INB) announced today that its AIPwLV(TM) proprietary technology platform was chosen again to be used for a specific product development, in this case for vaccine against malaria, as more particularly described in the December 15 announcement by Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology ("FCMB") excerpted below:

    "Fraunhofer CMB Receives Gates Foundation Grant to Develop Innovative Malaria Vaccines

    The Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology ("Fraunhofer CMB") announced today the receipt of a $3.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of transmission- blocking vaccines against malaria. To achieve the goals of this project, Fraunhofer CMB will employ its proprietary platform technology to produce lifesaving vaccines in non-genetically modified plants.

    Despite a century of efforts, malaria remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, causing more than 300 million acute cases and at least one million deaths annually. Malaria is the leading cause of death in young children in Africa, killing one child every 30 seconds.

    Vaccines could provide an effective means for the control and prevention of malaria. Previous research has shown that some human antibodies can reduce the transmission of malaria parasites from humans to mosquitoes.

    The project announced today will develop vaccine candidates designed to elicit these antibodies, thus preventing further spread of disease in endemic communities."

    The AIPwLV(TM) Platform was developed for INB by FCMB over the last three years. It is a proprietary platform technology which, as applied to vaccines, uses quickly-grown, non-genetically modified plants as a medium for the rapid, economical production of vaccine antigens. Unlike vaccine technologies currently in use, the AIPwLV(TM) platform enables practically limitless scalability of production of target antigens for vaccines against such diseases as influenza, relatively quickly after identification of the active strain, thereby significantly increasing the availability of efficacious vaccines for large-scale inoculations. In addition to the malaria vaccine product development described in the FCMB announcement, the AIPwLV(TM) platform is currently being used for two other vaccine product developments, against influenza and trypanosomiasis.

    "These vaccine product developments using our AIPwLV(TM) platform represent important first applications of this robust technology," said E. Gerald Kay, CEO of INB. "We expect the AIPwLV(TM) platform to alleviate or solve many of the problems affecting current vaccine technologies, and to be

    used under licenses from us for the novel production of many vaccines and therapeutic protein-based products against other diseases," added Mr. Kay.

    About Integrated BioPharma, Inc. (INB)

    Integrated BioPharma presently serves the varied needs of the health care industry through its Nutraceutical business, which creates, develops, manufactures and markets health products worldwide; its Biotechnology business, which uses its patented plant-based technology to produce vaccines and therapeutic antibodies; and its Pharmaceutical business, which operates contract research and cGMP manufacturing facilities. Further information is available at www.ibiopharma.com/.

    Statements included in this release related to Integrated BioPharma, Inc. may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties such as competitive factors, technological development, market demand, and the Company's ability to obtain new contracts and accurately estimate net revenues due to variability in size, scope and duration of projects. Further information on potential risk factors that could affect the Company's financial results can be found in the company's Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    DATASOURCE: Integrated BioPharma, Inc.

    CONTACT: Dina Masi, CFO, , or Jeffrey Leach, both of

    Integrated BioPharma, Inc., +1-888-319-6962

    Web site: www.ibiopharma.com/

  14. [verwijderd] 22 december 2006 08:15
    Persbericht Crucell - toelage EU
    22-12-2006 08:05:16

    Amsterdam (BETTEN BEURSMEDIA NEWS) - Hier volgt een persbericht uitgegeven door Crucell:

    Crucell subsidiary awarded EU grant to develop malaria vaccine

    Leiden, The Netherlands, December 22, 2006 - Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) today said the European Union had awarded a grant to its subsidiary toward the development of a Malaria vaccine. The €1.7 grant was given to a consortium of four leading groups in the field of Malaria research including Etna Biotech, a fully-owned Crucell group company. Etna Biotech is based in Catania, Italy. The Malaria vaccine will be based on Crucell's Recombinant Paramyxovirus technology.

    "We are very delighted by the EU's decision to offer this grant as it further demonstrates the importance for Recombinant Paramyxovirus technology toward the development of a malaria vaccine," said Reinhard Glueck Etna Biotech's CEO. "The EU grant is by no doubt an important step toward the development of a much-needed vaccine."

    About Recombitant Paramyxovirus Technology
    The family of Paramyxoviruses includes common disease agents such as measles, mumps and parainfluenza. Live recombinant vaccines against these diseases have greatly contributed to their reduction, especially in developed countries. The use of live recombinant viruses in vaccines thus represents a well-established method of conferring immunity against the pathogen. With the advent of reverse genetics these viruses can also be used to introduce foreign genes, encoding foreign antigens, into their recombinant genome. For instance, insertion of an RNA segment into the recombinant measles genome encoding for an immune stimulatory protein derived from Plasmodium falciparum or HIV antigens could result in immune responses that could protect against malaria and AIDS. In such cases, because the recombinant viruses retain their high immunogenic properties, they induce a strong humoral and cellular response against both their own (measles) and the foreign (malaria or HIV) proteins. Crucell holds the exclusive rights to a patented cloning technique to engineer paramyxoviruses.

    About Crucell
    Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) is a biotechnology company focused on research, development and worldwide marketing of vaccines and antibodies that prevent and treat infectious diseases. Its vaccines are sold in public and private markets worldwide. Crucell's core portfolio includes a vaccine against hepatitis B, a fully-liquid vaccine against five important childhood diseases, and a virosome-adjuvanted vaccine against influenza. Crucell also markets travel vaccines, such as the only oral anti-typhoid vaccine, an oral cholera vaccine and the only aluminum-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The Company has a broad development pipeline, with several Crucell products based on its unique PER.C6® production technology. The Company licenses this and other technologies to the biopharmaceutical industry. Important partners and licensees include DSM Biologics, sanofi aventis, GSK and Merck & Co. Crucell is headquartered in Leiden (the Netherlands), with subsidiaries in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Korea and the US. The Company employs over a 1000 people. For more information, please visit www.crucell.com.

    Forward-looking statements
    This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. For information relating to these factors please refer to our Form 20-F, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 6, 2006, and the section entitled "Risk Factors". The Company prepares its financial statements under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (US GAAP) and Europe (IFRS).

    (c) BETTEN BEURSMEDIA NEWS (tel: +31 20 710 1756; fax: +31 20 710 1875)
  15. [verwijderd] 27 december 2006 11:16
    "This agreement will make it possible to speed up the delivery of our malaria and TB vaccines to the people in need, and makes it realistic to do so on the mass scale required," said Jaap Goudsmit, Chief Scientific Officer at Crucell. "It also opens the way for Crucell to speed up the Ebola program with the VRC, which has recently entered a phase I clinical trial. But most importantly, it brings the reality of vaccines such as these significantly closer."

    Crucell's malaria vaccine program is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The TB vaccine program is a collaboration with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. Both programs are based on Crucell's adenovirus vector technology, AdVac®, and are currently in Phase 1 clinical trials.

    www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...
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