Rabbit and human antibodies to a repeated amino acid sequence of a Plasmodium falciparum antigen, Pf 155, react with the native protein and inhibit merozoite invasion.

The Plasmodium falciparum-derived antigen of Mr 155,000 designated Pf 155, deposited in the membrane of infected erythrocytes, contains at least two blocks of tandemly repeated amino acid sequences. The peptide Glu-Glu-Asn-Val-Glu-His-Asp-Ala, which corresponds to a subunit of a C-terminally located repeat, was synthesized. Rabbits immunized with the octapeptide conjugated with either keyhole limpet hemocyanine or tetanus toxoid formed antibodies against the octapeptide. These antibodies reacted with Pf 155 as detected by immunoblotting or a modified immunofluorescence assay. Sera from humans exposed to P. falciparum also contained antibodies binding to the octapeptide in a dot-blot immunoassay. Their anti-octapeptide titers were correlated with their immunofluorescence titers in the assay detecting Pf 155 and other parasite antigens in the membrane of infected erythrocytes. Human octapeptide-reactive antibodies were isolated on an affinity column with the octapeptide conjugated to bovine serum albumin as ligand. These human antibodies reacted with Pf 155 in immunoblotting and strongly stained the surface of infected erythrocytes in the modified immunofluorescence assay. Approximately 20% of this immunofluorescence activity in a high-titered human serum could be recovered from the octapeptide column, indicating that a significant fraction of these anti-parasite antibodies react with epitopes associated with the octapeptide. Furthermore, the human octapeptide-reactive antibodies very efficiently inhibited merozoite reinvasion into erythrocytes in vitro. Similarly purified rabbit antibodies also significantly inhibited reinvasion. Our results suggest that the C-terminal segment of repeated peptides in Pf 155 is a major antigenic region of the molecule and may contain target sites for protective immunity in P. falciparum malaria.