Home Helminths (including anthelmintic resistance) [Identity of virulence factors] – Identity of parasite virulence factors – Liver Fluke
Helminths (including anthelmintic resistance) roadmap:
Vaccines

Roadmap for the development of candidate vaccines for liver fluke

Download Liver-Fluke-Vaccine-Roadmap-1

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Identity of virulence factors

Dependencies

Next steps

Identity of parasite virulence factors

Research Question

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

To identify the factors that aid parasite migration and feeding. If the host could be immunised against these would it result in the parasite being unable to feed.

Research Gaps and Challenges

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

Understanding how the parasite interacts with and moves across the host intestine

Solution Routes

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

  • Studies on the immune responses of naturally exposed animals to establish the direction of immunomodulation
  • Establish which parasite genes are being expressed at different stages and their role in parasite migration/feeding
  • An SFI Research Professorship to J.P. Dalton at NUIG will commence in 2019
  • A number of national projects on fluke immunology and fluke vaccines are underway in Spain

Dependencies

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

An improved understanding of Host-parasite interaction

State Of the Art

Existing knowledge including successes and failures