Progress toward the development of vaccines against parasitic diseases: a review based on studies performed by participants of the Laveran seminar

Abstract

Although significant advances have been mode during the past 20 years, a better understanding of the orchestration of the immune response against a parasite candidate vaccine is still required for preparing vaccines which can induce the acquisition and the persistence of sterile immunity, without producing side effects in humans. This was, among others, one conclusion of the discussions between Thesis students and scientists. Only some aspects of the different steps of immune responses (recognition, protective effector mechanisms, cell regulation, cytokine activities, immunopathology, parasite escape mechanisms) are here reviewed. They are mainly related to malano and schistosomiasis, but also to other parasitic diseases, for which several experimental models have been developed.