Immunity to Malaria

Call for Papers

Malaria continues as a major public health problem that prevents economic and social development in many tropical regions of the world. While coverage of at-risk populations with malaria prevention and control measures resulting in a further declining in estimated malaria cases and deaths in certain area of the world, the numbers of cases have increased markedly in others endemic areas.

The persistence of malaria is partly due to the lack of an effective vaccine and therefore advances in our understanding of immunity are crucial. The development of clinical immunity by the host provides indirect evidence for the feasibility of development of a vaccine against malaria which induces protective immunity. Although vaccine development has proven to be difficult, it is still considered an acceptable additional tool for malaria control. We invite authors to submit original research and review articles that seek to define the interaction between human malaria species and the host's immune system. Thus we are interested in articles that explore cellular and humoral mechanisms of protective immunity to malaria, advances in P. falciparum or P. vivax vaccine candidates and aspects of the pathophysiology and immune-mediated protective mechanisms in the malaria. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Development and testing of novel and effective antimalaria vaccines
• Approaches in research on antigens associated with protective immunity in malaria
• Advances on acquired cell-mediated immunity by Plasmodia infection
• Progress in understanding of immune regulation and the development of protective immunity based on innate immune responses against to malaria
• Current understanding of the immunopathogenesis and strategies for the treatment of severe malaria
• Identification of new antigens as targets of the immune responses to human malaria
• Emerging technologies identifying biomarkers/correlates associated with immune monitoring, disease detection, or clinical diagnostics
• Surveying the influence of coinfections and immune modulation during malaria

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/cdi/imal/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Paulo A. Nogueira, Instituto Leônidas e Maria Deane (ILMD), Oswald Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Manaus, AM, Brazil

Guest Editors

• Nancy Awah, Department of Immunology, Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
• Stephanie Lopes, Departament of Genétic and Evolution and Bioagents, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil
• Wuelton Marcelo Monteiro, Tropical Medecine Foundation Hospital (FMT), Heitor Vieira Dourado (HVD), AM, Brazil