Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41772083›Full record

ArticleEMBO molecular medicine2026

Structure-guided design of a PfCyRPA-based vaccine against blood-stage malaria.

Nawsad Alam, Clare Wolfle, Egle Butkeviciute, Doris Quinkert, Lloyd D W King, Matthew K Higgins

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in EMBO molecular medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Nawsad AlamDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1063-2373
Clare WolfleDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.ORCID 0009-0006-3817-0170
Egle ButkeviciuteDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.
Doris QuinkertDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.
Lloyd D W KingDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK.
Matthew K HigginsDepartment of Biochemistry, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK. matthew.higgins@bioch.ox.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-2870-1955

Funding

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) 7200AA20C00017Wellcome Trust (WT) 220797/Z/20/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Effective vaccines against malaria are urgently required. All components of the PfPCRCR complex are essential for erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum and are potential vaccine immunogens against blood-stage malaria. Of these, PfRH5 has progressed furthest in clinical development, while PfCyRPA also induces parasite growth-inhibitory antibodies. Here, we used direct nanoparticle coupling and structure-guided design to generate improved PfCyRPA-based immunogens. PfCyRPA is a six-bladed β-propeller. Blades 1 and 2 are exposed in the PfPCRCR complex and contain the epitopes of the most potent known growth-inhibitory antibodies. We therefore performed structure-guided design to generate a correctly folded, thermostable epitope mimic, PfCyRPA-EM, containing blades 1 and 2. In a pre-clinical model, PfCyRPA-EM elicited antibodies that inhibited parasite growth at lower concentrations than those elicited by PfCyRPA. In addition, the higher thermostability of PfCyRPA-EM and its improved expression as an I53-50 nanoparticle fusion make it well-suited for clinical development, alone or with other immunogens.

Indexed as

Antigens, ProtozoanMalaria, FalciparumMalaria VaccinesPlasmodium falciparumProtozoan ProteinsAnimalsAntibodies, ProtozoanEpitopesHumansModels, MolecularProtein Subunit VaccinesAntibodies, ProtozoanAntigens, ProtozoanEpitopesMalaria VaccinesProtein Subunit VaccinesProtozoan ProteinsErythrocyte-invasionMalariaPfCyRPAStructure-guided Vaccine Design

Identifiers

PMID41772083
PMCPMC12988193

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.