Malaria Proteins & ELISA Kits

Malaria is a life threatening disease caused by members of the Plasmodium species. Plasmodium are single cell parasites transmitted to humans by the Anopheles mosquito. Upon entry into the bloodstream, Plasmodium affects liver cells and red blood cells, causing a variety of severe symptoms and sometimes, death.

There are hundreds of named Plasmodium species but only 5 cause malarial disease in humans: Plasmodium falciparum (or P. falciparum), Plasmodium malariae (or P. malariae), Plasmodium vivax (or P. vivax), Plasmodium ovale  (or P. ovale) and Plasmodium knowlesi (or P. knowlesi). In humans, the most severe form of malaria is caused by P. falciparum. Two billion people risk infection with malaria annually.

Merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1) is found in all malaria species. It is the most abundant protein on the merozoite surface and is essential for parasite survival. In addition, MSP-1 is an important vaccine candidate for the treatment of malaria. This protein is considered the primary candidate for mediating initial contact to the host erythrocyte.

For efficient management of malaria, it has been recommended that all suspected patients receive a confirmed diagnosis prior to drug administration. As a result, the determination of fast and accurate diagnostic techniques for malaria is in high demand. Thus, the implementation of malaria biomarkers in research is becoming increasingly important in the development of a reliable detection technique for diagnosis.

Parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) is produced by sexual and asexual stages of malaria parasites. pLDH possesses three important attributes. (1) In comparison to its counterparts from various other species, pLDH has unique amino acids at the active site, (2) As seen through X-ray crystallography, pLDH can form complexes with various compounds providing suitable targets for modelling of inhibitors, (3) pLDH controls the production of plasmodial ATP. As a result, pLDH is an attractive target for the design of antimalarial drugs.

During asexual erythrocytic development, P. falciparum synthesizes a unique set of soluble histidine-rich proteins (HRPs). HRP II is exclusive to P. falciparum and is thought to be a model vaccine candidate against malaria. HRP II is transported from the parasite to the culture supernatant in vitro, travelling through the host cell cytoplasm. Thus, HRP II is found everywhere in infected patients and is released in abundance. As a result, it is of high importance as an antigen biomarker of malaria.

Aldolase acts as a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway of the parasite. It is localized in the cytoplasm of the parasite as an active and soluble form. The enzyme is also associated with the membrane fraction as an insoluble form. Aldolase possesses a high degree of sequence diversity from the host, therefore, it acts as a potential drug target.

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is a hexameric enzyme that occupies a vital branch point between carbon and nitrogen metabolism. P. falciparum express three GDH isozymes. GDHs act as potent biomarkers as they are absent in the hosts red blood cells (RBCs).

Humanized mouse models and non-human primate animal models are widely used in the study of human malaria parasites in vivo. Assay Genie offers a wide range of animal model ELISA kits that will support this area of research.