Immunity to alpha-Gal: The Opportunity for Malaria and Tuberculosis Control

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F17%3A00483959" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/17:00483959 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Immunity to alpha-Gal: The Opportunity for Malaria and Tuberculosis Control

Original language description

Among all infectious diseases, malaria and tuberculosis constitute leading causes of morbidity and mortality of human populations in developed and undeveloped countries (1, 2). In 2015, the WHO reported that 10.4 million people had tuberculosis and 1.8 million of them died from the disease (1). Despite a reduction of malaria cases between 2000 and 2015 (3), the WHO reported 212 million cases and 429,000 deaths due to this disease in 2015 alone (2). Drug resistance to first-line antimalarial drugs (e.g., chloroquine, sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine, and artemisinin) is a major constrain of malaria control Sub-Saharan Africa (4). Likewise, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is a growing problem worldwide (5). Thus, the control of these diseases is among the most challenging tasks of public health worldwide. Drug overuse and misuse are recognized as the main drivers of drug resistance in parasites and pathogenic bacteria (4, 6). The identification of genetic factors affecting the susceptibility to these infectious diseases is essential toward reducing drug overuse and inappropriate treatment regimes. In this opinion, we propose that blood groups, a major driver of anti-α-Gal immunity and malaria and tuberculosis incidence (7), can be used to tailor antimalaria and anti-tuberculosis vaccination. Blood group A and O individuals, that can potentially develop strong anti-α-Gal immunity (8), could be immunized with probiotic-based vaccines to enhance the natural levels of anti-α-Gal antibodies. This immunity could lead to protection against these diseases which in turn would reduce the use of anti-malaria and anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

30102 - Immunology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů