ArticleBMC biology2025
Understanding the traits underlying vaccine-driven virulence evolution in malaria parasites.
Article in BMC biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVaccine-driven evolution can erode the beneficial effects of vaccination and is a concern, especially for newly introduced vaccines. While obvious candidates for vaccine-driven evolution are the precise parasite antigens that are the targets of vaccine-induced immunity, traits underlying parasite virulence may also evolve. Previous experimental work in rodent malaria demonstrated that evolution in vaccinated hosts resulted in increased parasite virulence, as measured by anemia (minimum red blood cell density). However, no genetic changes were detected at vaccine target sites, leaving the underlying traits or their interactions with host responses unclear. Using a hierarchical Bayesian framework, we fitted a mathematical model of within-host malaria infection dynamics to experimental time series data from infections in mice inoculated with parasites that had evolved in either vaccinated mice or sham-vaccinated (control) mice. We compared parameter estimates across treatments to understand which parasite traits could plausibly explain differences in infection dynamics and virulence.
resultsVaccine-evolved parasites elicited lower targeted immune killing and anemia-driven erythropoiesis, differences that were observed at the level of treatment means and when accounting for individual-level variation. We validated our model by calculating early-infection parasite multiplication rates, finding no differences across treatments (either experimental or simulated)-differences that would be expected if the vaccine target antigen (AMA-1) had evolved.
conclusionsOur results emphasize the complexity of virulence, showing that parasite modulation of host responses can influence disease severity. We also highlight the important role for evolution of parasite traits beyond target antigens in response to vaccination.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.