Malaria remains a worldwide scourge, but scientists at Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute believe they have found a way to get the mosquitoes to help stop passing the disease to humans.
They have shown that they can genetically engineer Anopheles mosquitoes’ immune systems to block transmission of the malaria-causing parasite. Specifically, the scientists engineer the mosquitoes to produce a higher than normal level of an immune system protein called Re12 when they feed on human blood to boost the parasite fighting capabilities.
They found their modified mosquitoes live as long and can compete for survival with the disease-transmitting mosquitoes.
“Malaria is one of world's most serious public health problems,” said George Dimopoulos, senior author of the study and associate professor in the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He notes that malaria afflicts more than 225 million people worldwide every year, and kills 800,000 of them. Many are children in Africa.
“Mosquitoes and the malaria parasite are becoming more resistant to insecticides and drugs, and new control methods are urgently needed,” he said. “We've taken a giant step toward the development of new mosquito strains that could be released to limit malaria transmission.”
He said more studies are needed to make sure the method is safe and fail-proof.