Low allelic diversity in vaccine candidates genes from different locations sustain hope for Fasciola hepatica immunization

Publication date: Available online 11 June 2018 Source:Veterinary Parasitology Author(s): Maria Fernanda Dominguez, Javier González-Miguel, Carlos Carmona, John P. Dalton, Krystyna Cwiklinski, José Tort, Mar Siles-Lucas Fasciola hepatica is a trematode parasite that causes fasciolosis in animals and humans. Fasciolosis is usually treated with triclabendazole, although drug-resistant parasites have been described in several geographical locations. An alternative to drug treatment would be the use of a vaccine, although vaccination studies that have been performed mainly in ruminants over the last 30 years, show high variability in the achieved protection and are not yet ready for commercialisation. Since F. hepatica exhibits a high degree of genomic polymorphism, variation in vaccine efficacy could be attributed, at least partially, to phenotypic differences in vaccine candidate sequences amongst parasites used in the challenge infections. To begin to address this issue, a collection of F. hepatica isolates from geographically dispersed regions, as well as parasites obtained from vaccination trials performed against a field isolate from Uruguay and the experimentally maintained South Gloucester isolate (Ridgeway Research, UK), were compiled to establish a F hepatica Biobank. These collected isolates were used for the genetic analysis of several vaccine candidates that are important in host-parasite interactions and are the focus of the H2020 PARAGONE vaccine project...
Source: Veterinary Parasitology - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research