Our product development partnership is working on a Pan-anthelmintic vaccine that simultaneously would target the three most prevalent soil-transmitted nematode infections: ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm infection. The approach builds off the current bivalent Human Hookworm Vaccine now in clinical development and would ultimately add both a larval Ascaris lumbricoides antigen and an adult-stage Trichuris trichiura antigen from the parasite stichosome. Final antigen selection will apply a ranking system that includes the evaluation of expression yields and solubility, feasibility of process development and the absence of circulating antigen-specific IgE among populations living in helminth-endemic regions.
The partnership is currently identifying novel vaccine antigen candidates for all three soil-transmitted helminths. Using techniques such as transcriptome analysis and immune detection, new antigens are being discovered and evaluated for immunogenicity and protective efficacy.
Currently, vaccine candidate antigens are being identified for trichuris. For ascaris, we are exploring the feasibility of expression of several antigen candidates, and for hookworm identification and expression of new hookworm proteins as vaccine candidate antigens.
Selected Publications
Analyzing the Migration Route of Ascaris Suum Larvae
Dr. Bin Zhan working towards development of antigens against ascariasis
