It is noteworthy to mention that IFN-γ responses to both liver- and blood-stage antigens have been positively correlated with protection [34]. In the same line, we found that the heterologous prime-boost Ad35-CS/BCG-CS induced significantly

higher numbers of CSp-specific IFN-γ-producing cells, indicating the induction of a type 1 T-cell response. The heterologous prime-boost administration also elicited click here the highest levels of CSp-specific IgG and in particular IgG2a. This finding has great implication for CSp-specific antibody responses, which might confer protection because the IgG response in the current heterologous prime-boost administration was mainly induced against the C-terminal region of CSp domain. The fact that the antibody response was stronger against C-CSp implies that epitopes responsible CSp-specific antibody responses are located in the C-terminal domains of the protein. Prolonged survival of a subset of PCs in BM has been implicated as the key component of the long-term maintenance of antibody titers [35]. In this study, heterologous prime-boost administration

was also the most efficient combination in terms of generating long-lived antibody responses; as shown by the induction of higher numbers of CSp-specific LLPCs upon restimulation with C-CSp. The effect of Ad35-CS/BCG-CS combination is of particular importance as LLPCs are thought to be instrumental for the acquisition of immunity against clinical malaria in endemic areas [36]. Furthermore, a recent study has shown that a GMZ2 vaccine, a fusion heptaminol protein consisting of the N-terminal portion of the glutamate rich protein (GLURP) fused FRAX597 cost to a C-terminal fragment of merozoite surface protein 3 (MSP3) plus the synthetic TLR4 agonist glucopyranosyl lipid A (GLA),

elicits the highest number of LLPCs secreting cells specific for both the GMZ2 fusion protein and its two components [14]. In our current study, we tried to achieve simultaneous B- and T-cell responses against P. falciparum CSp. Heterologous prime-boost immunization regimens including vaccination of Ad35-CS followed by BCG expressing the P. falciparum CSp, could be one of the best approaches. The sporozoite challenge experiments are underway to define the protective efficacy of this prime-boost protocol. We would like to acknowledge Dr Katarina Radošević from Crucell Company (The Netherlands) for the critical review of the manuscript. We kindly thank the personnel in the animal facility of the Wenner-Gren Institute for monitoring the welfare of animals. Funding sources: This work was supported by grants from the European Commission (FP6 PRIBOMAL Project Number: LSHP-CT-2007-037494) and European Virtual Institute for Malaria Research (EVIMalaR; 7th Framework Programme). Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that no competing financial interest exists. AR is employed by Crucell, a vaccine development company.