Abstract

Plasmodium falciparumis the main cause of severe malaria in humans that can lead to death. There is growing evidence of drug-resistance inP. falciparumtreatment, and the design of effective vaccines remains an ongoing strategy to control the disease. On the other hand, the recognition of specific diagnostic markers forP. falciparumcan accelerate the diagnosis of this parasite in the early stages of infection. Therefore, the identification of novel antigenic proteins especially by proteomic tools is urgent for vaccination and diagnosis ofP. falciparum. The proteome diversity of the life cycle stages ofP. falciparum, the altered proteome ofP. falciparum-infected human sera and altered proteins inP. falciparum-infected erythrocytes could be proposed as appropriate proteins for the aforementioned aims. Accordingly, this review highlights and proposes different proteins identified using proteomic approaches as promising markers in the diagnosis and vaccination ofP. falciparum.It seems that most of the candidates identified in this study were able to elicit immune responses in theP. falciparum-infected hosts and they also played major roles in the life cycle, pathogenicity and key pathways of this parasite.