Antibody-Dependent Cellular Inhibition Assay

The antibody-dependent cellular inhibition (ADCI) assay is designed to assess the capability of antibodies to inhibit the in vitro growth of Plasmodium falciparum in the presence of monocytes. Our studies have shown that antibodies that proved protective against P. falciparum blood stages by passive transfer in humans are unable to inhibit the parasite in vitro unless they are able to cooperate with blood monocytes (1 ,2 ). It was also shown that antibodies that were not protective in vivo had no effect on P. falciparum growth in the ADCI assay (3 ,4 ). The ADCI is therefore an in vitro assay the results of which reflect the protective effect of antimalarial antibodies observed under in vivo conditions in humans.