{"title":"East Coast fever mRNA vaccines - sweetening the promise.","authors":"Vishvanath Nene","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2025.06.008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mRNA vaccine platform should help research on East Coast fever subunit vaccines, but it remains unexplored. A theoretical strength of this platform, namely its capacity to prime cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, is appealing as these, rather than antibodies, are the major mediators of immunity induced by a live parasite-based vaccine. Here, I highlight knowledge on functionally relevant bovine adaptive cellular and antibody immune responses to Theileria parva and antigens targeted by them that could help to assess this vaccine platform, and in the design of a broad-spectrum subunit vaccine. The view that N-glycosylated parasite antigens may exist is unlikely as the pathogen does not encode genomic capacity to catalyze this post-translational modification.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":"620-627"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Trends in parasitology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2025.06.008","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/7/10 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PARASITOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The mRNA vaccine platform should help research on East Coast fever subunit vaccines, but it remains unexplored. A theoretical strength of this platform, namely its capacity to prime cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, is appealing as these, rather than antibodies, are the major mediators of immunity induced by a live parasite-based vaccine. Here, I highlight knowledge on functionally relevant bovine adaptive cellular and antibody immune responses to Theileria parva and antigens targeted by them that could help to assess this vaccine platform, and in the design of a broad-spectrum subunit vaccine. The view that N-glycosylated parasite antigens may exist is unlikely as the pathogen does not encode genomic capacity to catalyze this post-translational modification.
期刊介绍:
Since its inception as Parasitology Today in 1985, Trends in Parasitology has evolved into a highly esteemed review journal of global significance, reflecting the importance of medical and veterinary parasites worldwide. The journal serves as a hub for communication among researchers across all disciplines of parasitology, encompassing endoparasites, ectoparasites, transmission vectors, and susceptible hosts.
Each monthly issue of Trends in Parasitology offers authoritative, cutting-edge, and yet accessible review articles, providing a balanced and comprehensive overview, along with opinion pieces offering personal and novel perspectives. Additionally, the journal publishes a variety of short articles designed to inform and stimulate thoughts in a lively and widely-accessible manner. These include Science & Society (discussing the interface between parasitology and the general public), Spotlight (highlighting recently published research articles), Forum (presenting single-point hypotheses), Parasite/Vector of the Month (featuring a modular display of the selected species), Letter (providing responses to recent articles in Trends in Parasitology), and Trendstalk (conducting interviews). Please note that the journal exclusively publishes literature reviews based on published data, with systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and unpublished primary research falling outside our scope.