Antibodies against Anopheles mosquito salivary antigens are increasingly being used as surrogate measures of mosquito bite exposure.
Related Staff
Ellen Kearney | Ashleigh Heng-Chin | Freya Fowkes | Katherine O’Flaherty
Human antibodies against Anopheles salivary proteins: emerging biomarkers of mosquito and malaria exposure
Published: May 26, 2025
Citation
Human antibodies against Anopheles salivary proteins: emerging biomarkers of mosquito and malaria exposure
Kearney, Ellen A. et al.
Trends in Parasitology, Volume 41, Issue 5, 361 – 373
https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/fulltext/S1471-4922(25)00073-X
Abstract
A strong positive association between anti-salivary IgG seroprevalence and Anopheles human biting rate (HBR) has been quantified, suggesting that these antibodies could serve as proxy biomarkers of Anopheles bite exposure.
While most studies evaluate IgG seroprevalence to African Anopheles salivary antigens, and have demonstrated a strong association with HBR in Africa, a weaker association is observed when using African Anopheles salivary antigens outside of Africa.
Several novel biomarkers specific to South American Anopheles species have shown positive associations with malaria metrics.
Anti-salivary and antimalarial antibodies, as respective proxies of HBR and sporozoite index, have been combined to predict hotspots of malaria transmission and receptivity.