Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.

Vaccination with radiation-attenuated sporozoites (RAS) can provide highly effective protection against malaria in both humans and mice. To extend understanding of malaria immunity and inform the development of future vaccines, we studied the protective response elicited by this vaccine in C57BL/6 m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria N de Menezes, Zhengyu Ge, Anton Cozijnsen, Stephanie Gras, Patrick Bertolino, Irina Caminschi, Mireille H Lahoud, Katsuyuki Yui, Geoffrey I McFadden, Lynette Beattie, William R Heath, Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-05-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012731
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849337654055796736
author Maria N de Menezes
Zhengyu Ge
Anton Cozijnsen
Stephanie Gras
Patrick Bertolino
Irina Caminschi
Mireille H Lahoud
Katsuyuki Yui
Geoffrey I McFadden
Lynette Beattie
William R Heath
Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz
author_facet Maria N de Menezes
Zhengyu Ge
Anton Cozijnsen
Stephanie Gras
Patrick Bertolino
Irina Caminschi
Mireille H Lahoud
Katsuyuki Yui
Geoffrey I McFadden
Lynette Beattie
William R Heath
Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz
author_sort Maria N de Menezes
collection DOAJ
description Vaccination with radiation-attenuated sporozoites (RAS) can provide highly effective protection against malaria in both humans and mice. To extend understanding of malaria immunity and inform the development of future vaccines, we studied the protective response elicited by this vaccine in C57BL/6 mice. We reveal that successive doses of Plasmodium berghei RAS favour the generation of liver CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM cells) over circulating memory cells and markedly enhance their longevity. Importantly, RAS immunisation strongly skews the composition of the liver CD8+ TRM compartment towards cells specific for abundant sporozoite antigens, such as thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) and circumsporozoite protein (CSP), which become major mediators of protection. The increased prevalence of sporozoite specificities is associated with limited intrahepatic attenuated parasite development and inhibition of naïve T cell responses to all parasite antigens, whether formerly encountered or not, in previously vaccinated mice. This leads to the exclusive expansion of effector T cells formed upon initial immunisation, ultimately reducing the diversity of the liver TRM pool later established. However, stronger responses to less abundant epitopes can be achieved with higher initial doses of RAS. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms governing malaria immunity induced by attenuated sporozoite vaccination and highlight the susceptibility of this vaccine to limitations imposed by strain-specific immunity associated with the abundant, yet highly variable sporozoite antigens CSP and TRAP.
format Article
id doaj-art-0afb5c4af75744079a2ff4553bed3e1d
institution Kabale University
issn 1553-7366
1553-7374
language English
publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Pathogens
spelling doaj-art-0afb5c4af75744079a2ff4553bed3e1d2025-08-20T03:44:38ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742025-05-01215e101273110.1371/journal.ppat.1012731Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.Maria N de MenezesZhengyu GeAnton CozijnsenStephanie GrasPatrick BertolinoIrina CaminschiMireille H LahoudKatsuyuki YuiGeoffrey I McFaddenLynette BeattieWilliam R HeathDaniel Fernandez-RuizVaccination with radiation-attenuated sporozoites (RAS) can provide highly effective protection against malaria in both humans and mice. To extend understanding of malaria immunity and inform the development of future vaccines, we studied the protective response elicited by this vaccine in C57BL/6 mice. We reveal that successive doses of Plasmodium berghei RAS favour the generation of liver CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM cells) over circulating memory cells and markedly enhance their longevity. Importantly, RAS immunisation strongly skews the composition of the liver CD8+ TRM compartment towards cells specific for abundant sporozoite antigens, such as thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) and circumsporozoite protein (CSP), which become major mediators of protection. The increased prevalence of sporozoite specificities is associated with limited intrahepatic attenuated parasite development and inhibition of naïve T cell responses to all parasite antigens, whether formerly encountered or not, in previously vaccinated mice. This leads to the exclusive expansion of effector T cells formed upon initial immunisation, ultimately reducing the diversity of the liver TRM pool later established. However, stronger responses to less abundant epitopes can be achieved with higher initial doses of RAS. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms governing malaria immunity induced by attenuated sporozoite vaccination and highlight the susceptibility of this vaccine to limitations imposed by strain-specific immunity associated with the abundant, yet highly variable sporozoite antigens CSP and TRAP.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012731
spellingShingle Maria N de Menezes
Zhengyu Ge
Anton Cozijnsen
Stephanie Gras
Patrick Bertolino
Irina Caminschi
Mireille H Lahoud
Katsuyuki Yui
Geoffrey I McFadden
Lynette Beattie
William R Heath
Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz
Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
PLoS Pathogens
title Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
title_full Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
title_fullStr Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
title_full_unstemmed Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
title_short Long lived liver-resident memory T cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation-attenuated sporozoite vaccination.
title_sort long lived liver resident memory t cells of biased specificities for abundant sporozoite antigens drive malaria protection by radiation attenuated sporozoite vaccination
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012731
work_keys_str_mv AT mariandemenezes longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT zhengyuge longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT antoncozijnsen longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT stephaniegras longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT patrickbertolino longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT irinacaminschi longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT mireillehlahoud longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT katsuyukiyui longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT geoffreyimcfadden longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT lynettebeattie longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT williamrheath longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination
AT danielfernandezruiz longlivedliverresidentmemorytcellsofbiasedspecificitiesforabundantsporozoiteantigensdrivemalariaprotectionbyradiationattenuatedsporozoitevaccination