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

Ultimately, these antigens will be evaluated for protection alongside the two antigens comprising the Human Hookworm Vaccine. In so doing, it may be necessary to produce a tetravalent vaccine comprising two hookworm antigens together with an Ascaris and Trichuris antigen, respectively, or even possibly a pentavalent vaccine if a second Ascaris or Trichuris antigen is required to achieve adequate protective immunity. The costs of such vaccines will have to be carefully looked at, even if only inexpensive bacterial or yeast expression vectors are employed. A cost economic modeling exercise may be required to examine the comparative advantage of a Pan-anthelmintic vaccine over current control approaches that rely on anthelmintic drugs and deworming. Previously, the Human Hookworm Vaccine was shown to be cost-effective and even cost-saving under different scenarios [75] .