[Current state and problems of the development of malaria vaccine]

The development of vaccines against malaria, particularly the one caused by Plasmodium falciparum, is urgently needed to combat drug-resistant parasites, now spreading in most parts of the tropics. This article reviews molecular and immunological studies on potential candidate antigens at both the sexual stages and the asexual stages of the parasite development and several vaccination trials of SPf66, a synthetic vaccine being currently undertaken in the field. The identification of immunodominant T cell and B cell epitopes and antigen polymorphism/antigenic variation in the parasite, which obviously constitute major problems to be solved before producing effective vaccines, are discussed.