Can Malaria Vaccination Prevent Cancer?

Researchers may have recently resolved an old mystery of how malaria infection triggers the development of Burkitt lymphoma (BL), the most common childhood cancer in tropical countries in Africa.

BL is a relatively rare cancer globally characterized by elevated enzyme activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) levels.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Plasmodium falciparum malaria are cofactors in the etiology of BL.

Over the years, various theories focused on BL have been proposed and analyzed.

Published in th Journal of Immunology in March 2025, this research tested the hypothesis that P. falciparum and EBV synergize to induce dysregulated AID expression.

A cohort of children from Western Kenya with uncomplicated Malaria and community controls was included, as were children with uncomplicated Malaria who had elevated levels of CD19+ AID+ B cells compared to controls.

This high AID level was sustained up to 8 weeks after parasite clearance.

Using ImageStream flow cytometry, they found that 52% of AID was localized in the nucleus of CD19+ B cells in children with Malaria.

To test whether EBV and P. falciparum synergized to drive the expression of AID, they stimulated CD19+ B cells with EBV, CpG (to mimic P. falciparum DNA), or BAFF (induced during P. falciparum infection), or both.

Individually, EBV, BAFF, and CpG induced AID expression.

However, when combined, there was a significant increase of ∼30% in the frequency of CD19+AID+ cells above cells treated with EBV, BAFF, or CpG individually.

These researchers wrote, 'Collectively, these data suggest that P. falciparum malaria and EBV coinfection result in sustained AID expression, potentially influencing the MYC translocation characteristic of BL.'

A previous study in 2023 suggested that the effects of P. falciparum infections are cumulative, with each additional 100 infections associated with a 39% increase in the risk of developing Burkitt lymphoma.

Therefore, reducing the burden of P. falciparum malaria in young children could help to reduce the burden of this type of cancer.

On World Malaria Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for accelerated progress toward eliminating Malaria.

Since the two approved malaria vaccines target the P. falciparum parasite, and are available in Africa in 2025, their introduction could further help decrease Burkitt lymphoma rates in malaria-endemic countries.

As of April 2025, the WHO has certified 45 countries and one territory as malaria-free. Of the remaining 83 malaria-endemic countries, 25 reported fewer than 10 cases of the disease in 2023.

In the United States, most malaria cases are travel-related. However, Florida previously reported locally transmitted malaria cases.