title: Schistosomiasis vaccines: where do we stand?
abstract: Schistosomiasis, caused mainly by S. mansoni, S. haematobium and S. japonicum, continues to be a serious tropical disease and public health problem resulting in an unacceptably high level of morbidity in countries where it is endemic. Praziquantel, the only drug currently available for treatment, is unable to kill developing schistosomes, it does not prevent re-infection and its continued extensive use may result in the future emergence of drug-resistant parasites. This scenario provides impetus for the development and deployment of anti-schistosome vaccines to be used as part of an integrated approach for the prevention, control and eventual elimination of schistosomiasis. This review considers the present status of candidate vaccines for schistosomiasis, and provides some insight on future vaccine discovery and design.
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia. Biniam.Tebeje@qimrberghofer.edu.au.|School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Biniam.Tebeje@qimrberghofer.edu.au.|Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia. Biniam.Tebeje@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
authors.forename: Biniam Mathewos
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Tebeje
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harvie
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loukas
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia. donM@qimr.edu.au.
authors.forename: Donald P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McManus
mesh_terms: D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines
keywords: Antigen discovery; Immune protection; Immune response; Schistosoma haematobium; Schistosoma japonicum; Schistosoma mansoni; Schistosomiasis; Vaccine