Vacunas frente a la neosporosisnuevos adyuvantes y dianas vacunales y mejora de los modelos murinos experimentales

Abstract

Neospora caninum is an intracellular cyst forming parasite, considered as a major cause of reproductive failure in cattle and therefore responsible for significant economic losses in the milk and meat cattle industry. The main challenge for researchers is to develop a safe, effective and economically viable vaccine in order to prevent abortion and vertical transmission of the parasite. Thus, the selection of antigens capable of inducing a protective immune response against the parasite in the host is of great importance. Although the newest techniques for the study of the genome and the proteome of N. caninum have identified new candidates that might be involved in the virulence of the parasite, the parasite- and host- mechanisms involved in the development of an effective immune response have not yet been described. In this context, the use of inmunogenic antigens involved in the parasite proliferation, dissemination and persistence within immune privileged tissues, along with new adjuvant systems, are currently one of the most attractive approaches in the development of new generation vaccines against N. caninum. However, it is important to employ suitable experimental models for the evaluation of safety and efficacy of vaccine formulations in accordance with the studied parameters. In this sense, the pregnant and non pregnant mouse models have been used, as a proof of concept, for the vaccine formulations screening prior to their use in the target species ...