Monoclonal antibody identifies circumsporozoite protein of Plasmodium malariae and detects a common epitope on Plasmodium brasilianum sporozoites.

We produced a hybridoma secreting an immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody against the circumsporozoite protein of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium malariae (Uganda 1/CDC). The monoclonal antibody produces a circumsporozoite precipitation reaction when incubated with viable sporozoites of P. malariae and reacts at high titers with heat-fixed sporozoites in an indirect immunofluorescent antibody test. Using the purified monoclonal antibody and Western blot analysis, we identified two polypeptides with apparent molecular weights of 60,000 (Pm 60) and 48,000 (Pm 48) in extracts of P. malariae sporozoites. Two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of Pm 60 and the circumsporozoite protein Pm 48 indicated their isoelectric points to be acidic, with values of 5.3 and 4.7 to 5.0, respectively. A two-site immunoradiometric assay showed that the circumsporozoite protein recognized by the monoclonal antibody contains a repetitive epitope. P. malariae monoclonal antibody also reacted strongly with sporozoites of the simian parasite Plasmodium brasilianum, indicating a shared epitope on sporozoites of the two species. The P. malariae antibody did not bind sporozoite antigens of any other primate malarias, including Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and Plasmodium ovale.