Scientific research Clinical malaria research

Malaria-Research

What takes place during a controlled human malaria infection?

Step 1: Medical examination
Study participants will receive a comprehensive medical examination and can only participate in the study if he or she is completely healthy.

Step 2: The malaria infection
A cage containing mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium falciparum parasites is placed onto the forearms of the participants. These mosquitoes are bred in the malaria unit of Radboud university medical center and have never been in the outside world. The malaria parasites are bred according to the highest quality standards and are susceptible to standard antimalarials. 
 
Step 3: Close medical monitoring
Our clinical-researchers monitor the study participants on a daily basis to see if they develop malaria. If the malaria infection was successful, this is always the case. A participant will develop malaria within a maximum of 21 days, but usually between the 7th and 11th day after exposure to the infected mosquitoes. For this reason, beginning on the 6th day after exposure, participants will be tested daily during which blood samples will be taken until the infection is detected.


Step 4: Malaria treatment
As soon as the malaria parasites appear in the blood, we will treat the participant with highly effective antimalarials. It is expected that the malaria infection will cause most participants to develop flu-like symptoms such as headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, and sometimes fever. These symptoms usually disappear within a few days. After this malaria treatment, the malaria parasites will disappear from the body entirely and there is no chance that the infection will return.

• Register to participate in our malaria studies (in Dutch)

Malaria vaccine development

Through controlled human malaria infections in healthy volunteers, researchers can study the immune response to malaria. We use this knowledge to develop new, better malaria vaccines. 

We research how the malaria parasite itself can be used as a vaccine by repeatedly infecting healthy volunteers with malaria while they take antimalarials. The antimalarials prevent the volunteers from becoming ill, but the immune system comes into contact with the parasite and learns how to destroy it. If these volunteers are bitten by mosquitoes with malaria again, they will no longer become sick even without the antimalarials. 



Together with the Leiden University Medical Center and the American company Sanaria Inc., a weakened malaria parasite has been developed at Radboud university medical center, in which two genes have been removed. This “genetically modified” parasite stops developing early on, which, as expected, results in no symptoms occurring in the human subject, but it is still recognized by the immune system. In 2017, we will test if this parasite can be used as a vaccine.

Testing malaria vaccines

Testing of a potential vaccine must first be done extensively on laboratory animals. At a later stage, the vaccines will be tested on healthy volunteers. After a malaria vaccine is found to be safe in healthy volunteers, it will be tested whether the vaccine is effective in preventing malaria. Sometimes, this research is conducted among a group of volunteers in countries where malaria is very common, like in Africa. However, these types of studies are often difficult to set up and conduct in Africa. In order to advance the development of malaria vaccines, these types of studies can also be performed in countries where malaria does not occur naturally. This involves healthy volunteers receiving the new vaccine and being exposed to malaria under strictly controlled conditions in order to see whether the vaccine can effectively prevent malaria. 

The Center for Clinical Malaria Studies (CCMS) of Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen is one of the few places in the world where the malaria vaccine can be tested on healthy volunteers. In the meantime, the CCMS has accumulated over fifteen years of experience in this area.

In the years to come, multiple studies with promising malaria vaccines will be performed at the CCMS.