Roadmap for development of diagnostic tests for helminths

What are we trying to achieve and why? What is the problem we are trying to solve?

• To better understand the biological and immunological processes, and associated molecular and proteomic changes, that happen during early infection. This may help the development of earlier infection detection tools to enable intervention before the onset of clinical disease.
• To understand the factors leading to persistent infection such as entry and exit from hypobiosis in the host.

What are the scientific and technological challenges (knowledge gaps needing to be addressed)?

• Incomplete genomic/proteomic resources and data for most target parasite and host species.
• Controlled single species experimental infections need to be performed and appropriate experimental infection models often not well established.
• Experiments expensive and research funding in this area difficult to obtain.
• Immunological tools and basic reagents are generally limited for target species.
• Considerable inter-individual variability and thus need for comparatively large experimental groups and replicates
• In the field co-infections are common with associated interactions and clinical consequence

What approaches could/should be taken to address the research question?

Take advantage of studies going on for other purposes e.g. registrational trials or routine passaging of parasite isolates.

What else needs to be done before we can solve this need?

• Improve genomic/transcriptomic/proteomic data on various parasite species.
• Develop good experimental in vivo infection models.
• Develop in silico infection models for co-infections

Existing knowledge including successes and failures

Existing knowledge predominantly based on studying a small range of major helminth species (eg, Fasciola, Ostertagia , Haemonchus) with much less work on mixed infections under field conditions.