Advancing a multivalent ‘Pan-anthelmintic’ vaccine against soil-transmitted nematode infections

Zhan, Bin; Beaumier, Coreen M; Briggs, Neima; Jones, Kathryn M; Keegan, Brian P; Bottazzi, Maria Elena; Hotez, Peter J

To assess the potential feasibility of reproducing protective immunity through subunit vaccines, several efforts have been made to immunize pigs and mice with either crude parasite antigens or recombinant A. suum antigens. With respect to the former, pigs can be partially protected using larval excretory and secretory (ES) products [28] , antigens from the worm surface cuticle [31] , liposome-formulated adult-stage antigens [32] and antigens in the adult worm pseudocoelomic fluid [33] . Although it might be possible to mass produce eggs, larvae and adult Ascaris worms for purposes of vaccine development, the opportunity to use such crude antigen sources is tempered by the allergenic nature of these biologicals and their propensity to elicit high levels of IgE including antibodies to dust mite antigens [34] . Indeed, ascariasis itself is associated with asthma and other atopic conditions in disease endemic areas [35, 36] . ABA-1, the most abundant protein in Ascaris pseudocoelomic fluid, has been identified as a major parasite allergen [34,37,38], but others are likely present.