Pilot-scale production and characterization of paramyosin, a vaccine candidate for schistosomiasis japonica.

ABSTRACT: Despite effective chemotherapy, schistosomiasis remains a major public health problem in the developing world, with at least 200 million active infections resulting in significant morbidity. Rapid reinfection after treatment, accompanied by extensive residual morbidity, mandates alternative control strategies, including vaccine development. Paramyosin, a myofibrillar protein found only in invertebrates, has been widely studied as a vaccine candidate for both Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum. Recently, we demonstrated that Th2-biased immune responses to paramyosin are associated with resistance to reinfection with S. japonicum in humans; however, challenges in the pilot-scale production of schistosome paramyosin have hampered further studies of this promising vaccine candidate.

SUBMITTER: Jiz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446706 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature