Introduction

Liver stage-specific antigen 1 (LSA-1) gene is a partial protein-coding gene of 426 nucleotides that belong to strain MAL-T07 of Plasmodium falciparum. It produces 132 amino acids of LSA-1. In P.falciparum strain 3D7 (reference genome of P.falciparum), this gene is found at chromosome 10. Also named as PF10_0356, it is presumed as a protein-coding for external liver stage antigen.

Plasmodium falciparum

Plasmodium genus is the protozoan monocellular parasite that causes Malaria. Among 4 species that human-pathogenic (P.falciparum, P.vivax, P.oval and P.malariae), P.falciparum is the most virulent as it is responsible for the majority of Malaria-caused deaths globally, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. It accounts for 80% of all human malarial infections and 90% of the deaths. Each year, it causes disease in approximately 515 million people and kills between one and three million, most of them young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Malaysia, there are 5477 of total cases reported in year 2003, with 21 deaths.

Table shows statistics of Malaria cases reported in Malaysia by states from 2000 to 2003