A group of children in Tanzania who are naturally immune to malaria are helping scientists to develop a new vaccine.

US researchers have found that they produce an antibody that attacks the malaria-causing parasite.

Injecting a form of this antibody into mice protected the animals from the disease.

The team, which published its results in the journal Science, said trials in primates and humans were now needed to fully assess the vaccine's promise.

Prof Jake Kurtis, director of the Center for International Health Research at Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University School of Medicine, said: "I think there's fairly compelling evidence that this is a bona fide vaccine candidate.

"However, it's an incredibly difficult parasite to attack. It's had millions of years of evolution to co-opt and adapt to our immune responses - it really is a formidable enemy."

Trapped inside

The study began with a group of 1,000 children in Tanzania, who had regular blood samples taken in the first years of their lives.

A small number of these children - 6% - developed a naturally acquired immunity to malaria, despite living in an area where the disease was rife.

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The survival rate was over two-fold longer if the mice were vaccinated compared to unvaccinated”

Prof Jake Kurtis
Center for International Health Research
"There are some individuals who become resistant and there are some individuals who do not become resistant," explained Prof Kurtis.

"We asked what were the specific antibodies expressed by resistant children that were not expressed by susceptible children."

The team found that an antibody produced by the immune children hits the malaria parasite at a key stage in its life-cycle.