Merozoite surface coat precursor protein completely protects Aotus monkeys against Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Groups of Aotus (owl) monkeys were immunized with either the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface-coat precursor protein and its processing fragments or a complex of high molecular mass rhoptry proteins and challenged with a lethal infection of the homologous P. falciparum Uganda Palo Alto (FUP) strain. No patent parasitemia could be detected on thick blood films of monkeys immunized with the merozoite surface antigens; however, only one of three monkeys immunized with the rhoptry proteins was partially protected, while two required drug therapy. The experiment clearly demonstrates that the merozoite surface-coat precursor protein can completely protect Aotus monkeys against a lethal infection of the human malaria parasite.