Proteome-wide characterization of Plasmodium vivax antigens using a high-density peptide array

@article{asawa2026proteomewide,
  title = {{Proteome-wide characterization of Plasmodium vivax antigens using a high-density peptide array}},
  author = {Rosita Asawa and Brittany Hazzard and Katie Ko and Kieran Tebben and John Tan and Tineke Cantaert and Andrea Berry and Niraj Tolia and Jean Popovici and David Serre},
  journal = {PLOS Pathogens},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621},
  url = {https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Proteome-wide characterization of Plasmodium vivax antigens using a high-density peptide array
AU  - Rosita Asawa
AU  - Brittany Hazzard
AU  - Katie Ko
AU  - Kieran Tebben
AU  - John Tan
AU  - Tineke Cantaert
AU  - Andrea Berry
AU  - Niraj Tolia
AU  - Jean Popovici
AU  - David Serre
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/28
JO  - PLOS Pathogens
DO  - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1014621
AB  - 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.
SN  - 1553-7374
ER  -