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adjuvant

a substance sometimes included in a vaccine formulation to enhance or modify the immune-stimulating properties of a vaccine.

Anopheles

the genus of mosquito that transmits malaria.

anti-infection vaccines

vaccines that prevent people from becoming infected after being bitten by infected mosquitoes.

antibody

an infection-fighting protein molecule in blood or secretory fluids that tags, neutralizes, and helps destroy pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, viruses) or toxins. Antibodies, known generally as immunoglobulins, are made and secreted by B-lymphocytes in response to stimulation by antigens. Each specific antibody binds only to the specific antigen that stimulated its production.

antibody-mediated immunity

immunity that results from the activity of antibodies in blood and lymphoid tissue (also called humoral immunity).

antigens

foreign substances in the body that are capable of causing disease. The presence of antigens in the body triggers an immune response, usually the production of antibodies. Antigens may be soluble substances, such as toxins and foreign proteins, or particulate, such as bacteria and tissue cells; however only the portion of the protein of polysaccharide molecule known as the antigenic determinant combines with antibody or a specific receptor on a lymphocyte.

arm

a group of participants in a clinical trial, all of whom receive the same treatment, intervention, or placebo. The other arm(s) receive(s) a different treatment.

assay

analytic procedure in laboratory medicine, pharmacology, environmental biology, continuous delivery, and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a target entity (the analyte). For MVI, many assays focus on determining the functional activity of antibodies elicited in response to a malaria vaccine.

attenuated

weakened or treated in such a way as to decrease the ability of a microorganism (such as parasite or virus) to cause infection or disease.

attenuated vaccine

a vaccine in which live bacteria or viruses are weakened through chemical or physical processes in order to produce an immune response without causing the severe effects of the disease. Attenuated vaccines currently licensed in the United States include measles, mumps, rubella, polio, typhoid, yellow fever, and varicella. Also known as a live vaccine. (Irradiated sporozoites delivered via mosquito bite to volunteers was an investigational attenuated vaccine. The ability of this method of immunization to protect volunteers against challenge by infected mosquitoes is the basis for all current efforts to develop a malaria vaccine.)