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Title: Vaccines against bovine babesiosis: where we are now and possible roads ahead

Author
item FLORIN, CHRISTENSEN - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)
item Suarez, Carlos
item RODRIGUEZ, A - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)
item FLORES, D - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)
item SCHNITTGER, L - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)

Submitted to: Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/19/2014
Publication Date: 7/28/2014
Citation: Florin, C.M., Suarez, C.E., Rodriguez, A.E., Flores, D.A., Schnittger, L. 2014. Vaccines against bovine babesiosis: where we are now and possible roads ahead. Parasitology. doi: 10.1017/S0031182014000961.

Interpretive Summary: Bovine babesiosis caused by the tick transmitted hemoprotozoan parasites Babesia bovis, B. bigemina, and B. divergens commonly results in considerable cattle morbidity and mortality in vast areas of the world. From a global perspective, Babesia parasites are of arthropod-transmitted parasitic diseases responsible for the highest economic loss in cattle industry. Although existing live vaccines do confer protection they have considerable disadvantages. Therefore, in particular in countries where large numbers of cattle heads are affected by the disease important research efforts are done to develop improved vaccination strategies. Here a comprehensive overview on currently used live vaccines and of the status quo of experimental vaccine trials is presented. In addition, the state of art of pertinent research fields potentially contributing to the development of novel non-live and/or live vaccines are delineated. Among these fields is the ongoing characterization of parasite antigens involved in host cell invasion and in pathogen-tick interaction as well as the study of the characteristics of a protective immunity against infection. Furthermore, on one hand, the systematic mining of available parasite genome sequences is continuously enlarging the array of potential vaccine candidates while, on the other hand, the recent development of a transfection tool for Babesia makes the design and testing of recombinant live vaccines tangible. When reviewing this research realm it becomes clear that the complication and high cost of vaccine trials is a bottleneck of Babesia vaccine research. This has so far seriously limited the systematic testing of additional vaccine candidates and prevented an in-depth trial of vaccination formulations using different immunomodulators and antigen delivery systems.

Technical Abstract: Bovine babesiosis caused by the tick transmitted hemoprotozoan parasites Babesia bovis, B. bigemina, and B. divergens commonly results in considerable cattle morbidity and mortality in vast areas of the world. From a global perspective, Babesia parasites are of arthropod-transmitted parasitic diseases responsible for the highest economic loss in cattle industry. Although existing live vaccines do confer protection they have considerable disadvantages. Therefore, in particular in countries where large numbers of cattle heads are affected by the disease important research efforts are done to develop improved vaccination strategies. Here a comprehensive overview on currently used live vaccines and of the status quo of experimental vaccine trials is presented. In addition, the state of art of pertinent research fields potentially contributing to the development of novel non-live and/or live vaccines are delineated. Among these fields is the ongoing characterization of parasite antigens involved in host cell invasion and in pathogen-tick interaction as well as the study of the characteristics of a protective immunity against infection. Furthermore, on one hand, the systematic mining of available parasite genome sequences is continuously enlarging the array of potential vaccine candidates while, on the other hand, the recent development of a transfection tool for Babesia makes the design and testing of recombinant live vaccines tangible. When reviewing this research realm it becomes clear that the complication and high cost of vaccine trials is a bottleneck of Babesia vaccine research. This has so far seriously limited the systematic testing of additional vaccine candidates and prevented an in-depth trial of vaccination formulations using different immunomodulators and antigen delivery systems.