{ "abstract": "Plasmodium vivax is the second most prevalent Plasmodium species, with 2.5 billion people at risk of infection worldwide and around 10 million cases of clinical vivax malaria every year. Despite the clinical importance of this pathogen, little is known about the P. vivax proteins recognized by the host immune system, which hinders our ability to select vaccine candidates or to develop efficient serological markers. To characterize immunogenic P. vivax proteins, we designed a high-density peptide array containing 4.2 million peptides covering the entire protein sequences of all P. vivax genes and analyzed antibody responses of infected and malaria-naïve individuals. We identified a total of 283 proteins that are commonly immunogenic in symptomatic individuals. These proteins included many proteins known to be involved in erythrocyte invasion, several nucleoporins, and many uncharacterized proteins that should be further investigated for their roles during blood-stage infections. These analyses also revealed a unique pattern of antibody response against PIR proteins in asymptomatic individuals that could be associated with protection against clinical vivax malaria. Overall, these data provide an agnostic and proteome-wide perspective on immunogenic P. vivax proteins and constitute an important resource for the malaria community to develop new tools for better detecting and eliminating this important human pathogen. Author summary: Plasmodium vivax is the second most common cause of human malaria, threatening half of the world’s population. Despite the clinical importance of this pathogen, we only have a very limited number of vaccine candidates and diagnosis markers usable in the field, primarily due to our lack of global understanding of the parasite proteins recognized by the host immune system. To address this limitation, we designed a peptide array capturing the entire protein sequences of all P. vivax genes and used serum samples from infected individuals to identify which P. vivax proteins were bound by antibodies. Overall, we identified 283 commonly immunogenic proteins, including several exciting novel candidates for improving P. vivax detection and, possibly, developing efficient vaccines against vivax malaria.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America", "Nimble Therapeutics Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA", "Immunology Unit, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia", "Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, BaltimoreMaryland, United States of America", "Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, BethesdaMaryland, United States of America", "Malaria Research Unit, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia", "Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics G5 Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France" ], "article_type": "Research Article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 10, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Rosita Asawa" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Brittany Hazzard" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Katie Ko" }, { "affs": [ 3 ], "name": "Kieran Tebben" }, { "affs": [ 4 ], "name": "John Tan" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Tineke Cantaert" }, { "affs": [ 6 ], "name": "Andrea Berry" }, { "name": "Niraj Tolia" }, { "name": "Jean Popovici" }, { "name": "David Serre" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f6p1yqabga9q.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621", "fulltext_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621", "id": "0f6p1yqabga9q", "issns": [ "1553-7374" ], "landing_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621", "language": null, "licence": "CC-BY-4.0", "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0", "licence_source": "journal", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "openalex", "2739|Malaria Research and Control" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Immune system proteins" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Immune system proteins/Antigens" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Post-translational modification/Signal peptides" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antigens" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Protozoans/Parasitic protozoans/Malarial parasites" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Parasitology/Parasite groups/Apicomplexa/Plasmodium" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Immune physiology/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Immune physiology/Antigens" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antibodies" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune system proteins/Antigens" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Medical conditions/Parasitic diseases" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Medical conditions/Parasitic diseases/Malaria" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Medical conditions/Tropical diseases/Malaria" ] ], "openalex": "W7214662175", "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621&type=printable", "pmcid": null, "pmid": null, "published": "2026-09-28", "publisher": "Public Library of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f6p1yqabga9q.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:37Z", "native_id": "10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621", "source": "plos", "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:immunology", "subfield": "immunology" } ], "title": "Proteome-wide characterization of Plasmodium vivax antigens using a high-density peptide array", "title_text": "Proteome-wide characterization of Plasmodium vivax antigens using a high-density peptide array", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:37Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0f6p1yqabga9q", "venue": "PLOS Pathogens", "versions": [] }