[Application of toll-like receptor agonists as an adjuvant component to malaria blood-stage vaccine]

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) belong to the category of pattern recognition receptor. The binding of TLRs with their respective ligands activates innate immune system, thereby initiates adaptive immune responses. As such, some TLR ligands or agonists have been used as an adjuvant component in a variety of vaccine formulations. AMA1 and MSP1 from Plasmodium falciparum are two main antigens of malaria blood-stage vaccine, but they are poor immunogens in humans. To enhance the immunogenicities of these two vaccine candidates, the TLR agonists have been used in their formulations for the clinical trials. Recent progress in the field is reviewed in this article.