Home ‹ Helminths (including anthelmintic resistance) ‹ [Host responses to natural infection] Host response to natural infection
Helminths (including anthelmintic resistance) roadmap:
Vaccines

Roadmap for nematode vaccine development

Download Nematode Vaccine Roadmap

15

Host responses to natural infection

visit roadmap

Dependencies

Next steps

Host response to natural infection

Research Question

  • Identify the host (protective) immune response i.e. what is the host responding to and what is its role in protection, or possibly as a decoy dominant ‘smokescreen’ antigen preventing protective immunity from developing.
  • Identify how animals that are considered more resistant or resilient to GIN are controlling/containing infection.

Research Gaps and Challenges

  • Lack of immunological reagents to fully identify effector mechanisms of host immune response.
  • Lack of good genomic/transcriptomic data for some species for subsequent proteomic identification of immunodominant proteins.

Solution Routes

  • Study the immune response of “resistant” and “resilient” animals compared to those that are highly susceptible.
  • Use of serial biopsy to establish transcriptomic response in host to help identify effector mechanisms.
  • Identify upstream mechanisms of antigen recognition, antigen presenting and induction of acquired immune responses (bridging innate and acquired immunity).

Dependencies

  • A better understanding of host-parasite interactions.
  • Good models of the induction of natural immunity.
  • Development or enhanced availability of immune reagents for livestock species

State Of the Art

  • Many studies on the induction of natural immunity dating back to the 1950s; recent studies on the transcriptomic response to parasitism (Hopkins et al.) and on the use of effector antibodies to identify protective antigens by 2D immunoblotting and immunoaffinity purification

Projects

What activities are planned or underway?

Improving the performance of forage legumes through the use of optimal symbiotic partners using the example of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia)

Planned Completion date 31/12/2023

Source Countries:

DenmarkIconDenmark

Development of a web application for the risk assessment of the worm load of free-range laying hens (Wurmfrei)

Planned Completion date 31/12/2026

Source Countries:

DenmarkIconDenmark