The first human clinical trial of any malaria vaccines to be carried out in Ireland has proven successful, scientists have said.

Two new malaria vaccines were trialled in humans by researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in Dublin and they were found to be well tolerated, producing a strong immune response.

As well as being the first human clinical trial of any malaria vaccine to be carried out in this country, this is also the first time these new vaccines have ever been trialled in humans.

The two new malaria vaccines, ChAd63 CS and MVA CS, were tested on 24 Irish volunteers.

"The vaccines were found to have an excellent safety profile and produced the appropriate immune response, generating specific T cells that are primed to respond to malaria proteins. Combining these vaccines with others in development may lead to a vaccine that could prevent malaria, which would have a huge impact on human health as a result," the RCSI said.

The RCSI scientists are working on this project in collaboration with the University of Oxford in the UK. The vaccines have now progressed to the next phase of clinical trials in Oxford.

Malaria is a tropical disease that is usually transmitted following a bite from an infected mosquito. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 207 million cases of malaria occurred globally in 2012 and 627,000 people died as a result. At least three in four deaths occur in children under the age of five.

"Malaria remains a major cause of mortality in the world, with almost 700,000 deaths annually. In low-income countries where malaria is endemic, the expensive multi-drug therapy required to treat it is often not an available option so there is a need for new preventative tools.

"The results of the RCSI malaria vaccine trial, which demonstrate both safety for the patient and a positive clinical and immunological response, are very promising and represent an important step in the development of an effective vaccine for the disease," commented the study's senior author, Prof Sam McConkey, head of the RCSI's Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine.

This project is funded by the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), with the support of Irish Aid. The results of the clinical trial are published in the current issue of the journal, PLOS ONE.