Oumarou Ouédraogo^1,, Dinanibè Kambiré¹, Issiaka Soulama¹, Edith C. Bougouma², Blami Kote³, Luisa Nunziangeli⁴, Henri Gautier Ouédraogo¹, Yves Traoré⁵, Serge Diagbouga¹, Seni Kouanda¹, Valentina Mangano⁶, David Modiano⁶, Giampietro Corradin⁷, Sodiomon B. Sirima², Roberta Spaccapelo⁸, Issa Nébié²

Antibody immune response play key role in the naturally acquired immunity to malaria. However, due to the complex life cycle and Plasmodium antigen diversity, there still is a need to search for protective antigens. We have used multiplex protein microarrays of 92 novel Plasmodium. falciparum alpha-helical coiled coil protein motifs to screen plasma samples obtained from children and adults belonging to three sympatric ethnic groups from malaria endemic area in Burkina Faso. Samples collected during a cross- sectional survey allowed to draw the IgG antibody response profile related to concurrent parasitaemia and clinical status at baseline. Samples collected from children under 5 years old who received longitudinal follow-up allowed to identify protective malaria antigens. The study results showed that the concurrent parasitemia influenced the antibody response to Plasmodium falciparum. The number of recognized antigens and the IgG antibody intensity were higher in uninfected volunteers compared to the infected people. The number of recognized antigens and the IgG antibody level were higher in asymptomatic individuals at baseline compared to symptomatic volunteers. The study results have shown that the IgG antibody response to six antigens (LR150B, LR163, MR232, MR259C, MR261A and MR282) were associated to protection against clinical malaria in children under five years old.

malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, microarrays, Burkina Faso