Hemozoin: malaria's "built-in" adjuvant and TLR9 agonist.
Document type:
Comment; Journal Article
Author(s):
Wagner, H
Abstract:
The "built-in" adjuvant in a whole-microbe vaccine potentially triggers protective immunity. Coban et al. now demonstrate that crude blood stage extract of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum drives parasite-specific immune responses via Hemozoin, a byproduct of heme detoxification, functioning as a TLR9 agonist and, therefore, as a "built-in" adjuvant.