Seeking universal malaria-vaccine targets

The quest to develop a malaria vaccine has been frustrated by a simple problem: researchers have limited knowledge about which parasite proteins the human immune system recognizes during infection. Most vaccine targets have therefore been chosen on the basis of indirect evidence or similarity to proteins from other microbes. Writing in Nature, Barbosa et al.1 address this knowledge gap. Studying the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, the authors mapped the protein fragments (antigens) that are presented to immune cells during human infection. This revealed a previously hidden landscape of malaria targets that are associated with protective immune responses in humans, monkeys and mice. These targets are evolutionarily conserved across Plasmodium species and are expressed at various stages of the parasite life cycle.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01808-x

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Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.

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