[Vaccination trials and immune response against Plasmodium falciparum in Saimiri monkeys]

Testing in experimental animal model is an essential phase in the development of a vaccine against as sexual blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum. In the last ten years, the Saimiri sciureus sciureus monkey has been widely used as a primate host of human malaria in immunological and parasitological experiments. The purpose of this report is to describe some breakthroughs that have been achieved using this model with particular emphasis on the essential role of immune phagocytosis by protective antibodies. On the basis of the latter observation, recombinant Plasmodium falciparum antigens have been selected and evaluated as vaccine candidate in Saimiri monkeys. Animals with or without a history of experimental malaria have been protected using a similar technique after parasite testing and differences in the nature and function of antibody responses after immunization have been observed. In addition to re-assessing some of these data, we give some perspective on some previously unpublished parasitological observations such as immune-induced variation and release of parasites. Based on this data, we have been able to re-evaluate several hypotheses on the host-parasite relationship in Saimiri monkeys.