Humoral immune responses induced by RTS,S vaccination have been shown, through multiple clinical trials, to be associated with protection against infection with malaria. However, the identities of individuals antibodies, which comprise the total humoral response, are largely unknown. To identify these antibodies and their functions, collaborators at University of Texas at Austin (UT) aim to characterize the repertoire of IgG antibodies in serum collected from subjects that received the RTS,S-like vaccine, R21, in clinical trials conducted at The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford.

The high-throughput approach pioneered by UT will enable the discovery, quantification, and subsequent expression of antibodies from vaccinated subjects that underwent controlled human malaria infection (CHMI). Findings from this molecular-level characterization of circulating antibodies in protected and non-protected subjects will inform ongoing efforts aimed at understanding how humoral immunity induced by vaccination contributes to protection against malaria.