Vaccination of domestic animals with a novel oral vaccine prevents Giardia infections, alleviates signs of giardiasis and reduces transmission to humans

MARIANELA C SERRADELL; ALICIA SAURA; LUCIA L RUPIL; PABLO R GARGANTINI; MARCELA I FAYA; PAULINA J FURLAN; HUGO D LUJAN

npj Vaccines

Springer Nature

Lugar: Holanda; Año: 2016

2059-0105

iardia lamblia is a human intestinal parasite and one of the most frequent enteric pathogen of companion animals. Clinical manifestations of giardiasis, such as diarrhoea, anorexia, weight loss and lethargy, have been associated with Giardia infections in both domestic and farm animals. A few anti-parasitic drugs are routinely used to treat giardiasis, but re-infections are common and drug-resistant strains have already been reported. Unfortunately, efficient vaccines against Giardia are not available. Giardia undergoes antigenic variation; through this mechanism, parasites can avoid the host?s immune defenses, causing chronic infections and/or re-infections. Antigenic variation is characterised by a continuous switch in the expression of members of a homologous family of genes encoding surface antigens. In a previous report, we indicated that in Giardia, the mechanism responsible for the exchange of variant-specific surface proteins (VSPs) involves the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway