Miniaturized Growth Inhibition Assay to Assess the Anti-blood Stage Activity of Antibodies.

While no immune correlate for blood-stage specific immunity against Plasmodium falciparum malaria has been identified, there is strong evidence that antibodies directed to various malarial antigens play a crucial role. In an effort to evaluate the role of antibodies in inhibiting growth and/or invasion of erythrocytic stages of the malaria parasite it will be necessary to test large sample sets from Phase 2a/b trials as well as epidemiological studies. The major constraints for such analyses are (1) availability of sufficient sample quantities (especially from infants and small children) and (2) the throughput of standard growth inhibition assays. The method described here assesses growth- and invasion inhibition by measuring the metabolic activity and viability of the parasite (by using a parasite lactate dehydrogenase-specific substrate) in a 384-microtiter plate format. This culture method can be extended beyond the described detection system to accommodate other techniques commonly used for growth/invasion-inhibition.