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

As outlined above, there are no defined T. trichiura-specific antigens that have been specifically identified for further vaccine development. Thus, there is still a need to discover and develop specific T. trichiura antigens. One approach could utilize the established T. muris AKR murine model. Since the adult ES products of T. muris induced complete protection in immunized mice against infective egg challenge [52] , the immune sera will be used to immunoscreen a T. muris adult stichosome cDNA library and identify secreted proteins that induce the protective immunity. Another approach to identify the vaccine antigen is to take advantage of studies already completed with the major Trichinella antigens highlighted previously. Trichuris muris orthologs of these antigens highlighted above can be cloned and expressed in platforms such as bacteria, yeast or baculovirus. These antigens can then be tested in subsequent immunogenicity studies. In parallel, proteomics approaches are useful to identify the full complement of T. muris stichosome antigens and their reactivity to immune serum from a mouse model. Once promising candidates are identified, protein expression on the T. trichura homologs of Advancing a multivalent 'Pan-anthelmintic' vaccine against soil-transmitted nematode infections Review informahealthcare.com these candidates can begin and further antigen down-selection can take place.