Download Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3 now!
Faith Osier
kilifi [dot] kemri-wellcome [dot] org Research
People living in malaria-endemic areas become immune to death from severe malaria essentially by the age of five years, and develop immunity against mild clinical episodes at variable rates. However, the mechanisms underlying this naturally-acquired immunity to malaria are poorly understood, and to date there are no reliable correlates of immunity to malaria. An important role for antibodies in mediating acquired immunity was established when immunoglobulins were passively transferred from ‘malaria-immune' adults to patients with clinical malaria, resulting in clinical resolution of symptoms as well as significant reductions in parasitaemia. Protective antibody against blood stage parasites could be targeted to the parasite infected erythrocyte, the free merozoite surface or proteins contained in the apical organelles of merozoites which are secreted at the time of erythrocyte invasion. My work focuses on the contribution of antibodies against merozoite antigens to the development of naturally acquired immunity. We study prospectively monitored longitudinal cohorts in malaria-endemic settings, such as Kilifi.
Collaborations
Publications
BEJON P, MOHAMMED S, MWANGI I, ATKINSON SH, OSIER F, PESHU N, NEWTON CR, MAITLAND K, BERKLEY JA. Fraction of all hospital admissions and deaths attributable to malnutrition among children in rural Kenya. 2008. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 88 (6), pp 1626-31.
BEESON JG, OSIER FH, ENGWERDA CR.2008. Recent insights into humoral and cellular immune responses against malaria.Trends in Parasitology. 24 (12), pp 578-84.
FAITH H.A.OSIER, GREGORY FEGAN, SPENCER D. POLLEY, LINDA MURUNGI, FEDERICA VERRA, KEVIN K.A. TETTEH, BRETT LOWE, TABITHA MWANGI, PETER C. BULL, ALAN W. THOMAS, DAVID R.CAVANAGH, JANA S. MCBRIDE, DAVID E. LANAR, MARGARET MACKINNON, DAVID J. CONWAY, KEVIN MARSH. 2008. Breadth and magnitude of antibody responses to multiple Plasmodium falciparum merozoite antigens are associated with protection from clinical malaria. Infection and Immunity 76 (5), pp 2240-8.
VERRA F, SIMPORE J, WARIMWE GM, TETTEH KK, HOWARD T, OSIER FH, BANCONE G, AVELLINO P, BLOT I, FEGAN G, BULL PC, WILLIAMS TN, CONWAY DJ, MARSH K, MODIANO D. 2007. Haemoglobin C and S Role in Acquired Immunity against Plasmodium falciparum Malaria. PLoS ONE 3;2(10):e978.
OSIER FH, POLLEY SD, MWANGI T, LOWE B, CONWAY DJ, MARSH K.
Naturally acquired antibodies to polymorphic and conserved epitopes of Plasmodium
falciparum merozoite surface protein 3. 2007. Parasite Immunology 29 (8), pp387-94.
OSIER FH, BERKLEY JA, NEWTON CR. 2006. Life-threatening hyponatraemia and neurotoxicity during chemotherapy for Burkitt's lymphoma. Tropical Doctor. 36 (3), pp177-8.
OSIER FH, BERKLEY JA, ROSS A, SANDERSON F, MOHAMMED S, NEWTON CR. 2003. Abnormal blood glucose concentrations on admission to a rural Kenyan district
hospital: prevalence and outcome. Archives of Diseases of Childhood 88 (7), pp 621-5.
ENGLISH M, BERKLEY J, MWANGI I, MOHAMMED S, AHMED M, OSIER F, MUTURI N, OGUTU B, MARSH K, NEWTON CR. 2003. Hypothetical performance of syndrome-based management of acute paediatric admissions of children aged more than 60 days in a Kenyan district hospital. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 81 (3), pp166-73.
BERKLEY JA, ROSS A, MWANGI I, OSIER FH, MOHAMMED M, SHEBBE M, LOWE BS, MARSHK, NEWTON CR. 2003. Prognostic indicators of early and late death in children admitted to district hospital in Kenya: cohort study. British Medical Journal 326 (7385), pp 361.
OSIER FH, NEWTON CR.1999. Fibrocalculous pancreatic diabetes in a child: case report.
East African Medical Journal 76 (12), pp 703-5.