Host directed therapy to boost protective immunity to malaria

Understanding immune development in this unique clinical trial will allow researchers to develop approaches to boost protective immunity to malaria, leading to novel therapeutics in the future.

Immunity to malaria is slow to develop due to the rapid induction of regulatory cell responses that hamper adaptive immunity. Type I IFN signalling is key to these regulatory cell responses. In a world’s first Phase 1b clinical trial, we tested whether Ruxolitinib, a JAK1/2 inhibitor, could block Type I IFN signalling and improve protective immunity to malaria in humans.

This project will use human clinical samples collected during Phase 1b clinical trial to understand the impact of Type I IFN signalling blockade on protective immune development in humans.