Prime-boost: The way forward for recombinant vaccines against apicomplexan parasites. A Theileria perspective

Abstract

A good CD8+ response is required for Immunity to many intracellular pathogens. Traditional Antigen delivery using isolated sub-units or killed Pathogens and adjuvant stimulates strong antibody responses but weak T-cell reactivity. Attenuated vaccines are usually more effective. The prime-boost delivery system based on immunisation with a naked DNA antigen-gene construct followed by boosting with an attenuated vaccinia virus expressing the same antigen is proving to be a powerful way to stimulate antigen-specific CD8 responses. Success using single epitopes is possible in malaria and we believe this approach holds much promise for other apicomplexan parasites such as Theileria spp.