Patent ID: 8716443

Claim:
An isolated polypeptide, the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide consisting of: the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6; the sequence of a fragment of said sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6, said fragment comprising the sequence extending from position 223 to position 326 of said sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6; or a conservative variant, which differs from said sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6 or from said fragment of SEQ ID NO: 6 by one conservative amino acid substitution, provided that said conservative variant has at least one of the following properties a)-i): a) said conservative variant has an unstructured or unfolded 3D-arrangement; b) said conservative variant does not comprise a globular functional domain or a protein structural motif comprising tandem repeats; c) said conservative variant induces IgG1 and/or IgG3 antibodies; d) said conservative variant has induces antibodies wherein the antibodies are specific to Plasmodium -infected erythrocytes but not to sporozoites; e) in an ADCI assay, said conservative variant has an inhibitory effect on Plasmodium growth wherein the inhibitory effect is at least 92%; f) said conservative variant has a property that, in humans under natural exposure to a malaria parasite, the total proportion of individuals having IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies that are specific to the conservative variant is higher than the total proportion of individuals having IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies that are specific to peptide P27 (SEQ ID NO: 14); g) said conservative variant has a property that, in human beings under natural exposure to the parasite, it the conservative variant induces specific IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies that are very strongly associated with a state of resistance to malaria; h) said conservative variant has a property that parasite-induced antibodies that are specific to said conservative variant are present in individuals who are resistant to malaria and are absent, or are present at lower titers, in individuals, who have malaria; or i) said conservative variant comprises the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10 or comprises an ortholog variant sequence of said sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, said ortholog variant sequence having at least 98% identity with said sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10 over the entire length of SEQ ID NO: 10, said ortholog variant sequence consisting of 102 to 106 amino acids.