title: Vaccines against bovine babesiosis: where we are now and possible roads ahead.
abstract: Bovine babesiosis caused by the tick-transmitted haemoprotozoansBabesia bovis, Babesia bigeminaandBabesia divergenscommonly results in substantial cattle morbidity and mortality in vast world areas. Although existing live vaccines confer protection, they have considerable disadvantages. Therefore, particularly in countries where large numbers of cattle are at risk, important research is directed towards improved vaccination strategies. Here a comprehensive overview of currently used live vaccines and of the status quo of experimental vaccine trials is presented. In addition, pertinent research fields potentially contributing to the development of novel non-live and/or live vaccines are discussed, including parasite antigens involved in host cell invasion and in pathogen-tick interactions, as well as the protective immunity against infection. The mining of available parasite genomes is continuously enlarging the array of potential vaccine candidates and, additionally, the recent development of a transfection tool forBabesiacan significantly contribute to vaccine design. However, the complication and high cost of vaccination trials hinderBabesiavaccine research, and have so far seriously limited the systematic examination of antigen candidates and prevented an in-depth testing of formulations using different immunomodulators and antigen delivery systems.
authors: Instituto de Patobiologia, CICVyA, INTA-Castelar, 1686 Hurlingham, Argentina.|CONICET, C1033AAJ Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Monica
authors: M
authors: Florin-Christensen
authors: Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040, USA.|ADRU-ARS, United States Department of Agriculture, Pullman, WA 99164-6630, USA.
authors: Carlos E
authors: CE
authors: Suarez
authors: Instituto de Patobiologia, CICVyA, INTA-Castelar, 1686 Hurlingham, Argentina.
authors: Anabel E
authors: AE
authors: Rodriguez
authors: Instituto de Patobiologia, CICVyA, INTA-Castelar, 1686 Hurlingham, Argentina.|ANPCyT, C1425FQD Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Daniela A
authors: DA
authors: Flores
authors: Instituto de Patobiologia, CICVyA, INTA-Castelar, 1686 Hurlingham, Argentina.|CONICET, C1033AAJ Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Leonhard
authors: L
authors: Schnittger
keywords: Bovine babesiosis; erythrocyte; immune response; invasion; live vaccines; subunit vaccines; tick-parasite interaction; transfection