Figure 2

Inhibition of sporozoite infectivity of human hepatocytes in vitro. (a) Sporozoites of P. berghei transgenic parasites expressing P. vivax CSP, SSP3, SPECT1, CelTOS, were pre-exposed to plasma samples from vivax-infected patients (n = 51) before being added to a monolayer of HC-04 cell line in 384 well plates. Inhibition of hepatocyte infection was expressed as percent inhibition in the formation of EEFs in the presence of patient plasma (test samples) relative to the naïve North American control plasma. Each point on the graph represents the percent inhibition of individual plasma and bars represent the median and interquartile range for two independent experiments tested in triplicate. Statistical analysis was performed by Kruskal–Wallis test Dunn’s multiple comparison analysis. (b) Correlation of antibody inhibitory responses between PE antigens. Pairwise Spearman’s correlations were determined by percent inhibition in ILSDA between each antigen pair. Correlation was performed to predict inhibitory interactions between PE antigens. Antigen pairs with Spearman r > 0.6 and adjusted p-value < 0.0001 suggest a moderately significant correlation. Significance indicated by *p < 0.005, ** p < 0.0001.