A whole‐killed, blood‐stage lysate vaccine protects against the malaria liver stage

Summary Although the attenuated sporozoite is the most efficient vaccine to prevent infection with the malaria parasite, the limitation of a source of sterile sporozoites greatly hampers its application. In this study, we found that the whole‐killed, blood‐stage lysate vaccine could confer protection against the blood stage as well as the liver stage. Although the protective immunity induced by the whole‐organism vaccine against the blood stage is dependent on parasite‐specific CD 4 + T‐cell responses and antibodies, in mice immunized with the whole‐killed, blood‐stage lysate vaccine, CD 8 + , but not CD 4 + effector T‐cell responses greatly contributed to protection against the liver stage. Thus, our data suggested that the whole‐killed, blood‐stage lysate vaccine could be an alternative promising strategy to prevent malaria infection and to reduce the morbidity and mortality of patients with malaria.