DNA Vaccines against Protozoan Parasites: Advances and Challenges

DNA Vaccines against Protozoan Parasites: Advances and Challenges

Over the past 15 years, DNA vaccines have gone from a scientific curiosity to one of the most dynamic research field and may offer new alternatives for the control of parasitic diseases such as leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. We review here some of the advances and challenges for the development of DNA vaccines against these diseases. Many studies have validated the concept of using DNA vacci...

Genome Based Vaccines Against Parasites

RNA interference in protozoan parasites: achievements and challenges.

Protozoan parasites that profoundly affect mankind represent an exceptionally diverse group of organisms, including Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Entamoeba, Giardia, trypanosomes, and Leishmania. Despite the overwhelming impact of these parasites, there remain many aspects to be discovered about mechanisms of pathogenesis and how these organisms survive in the host. Combined with the ever-increasing ...

Protozoan Parasites

When viewed from the top, Trichodina is circular; side views of the organism reveal a saucer or dome shape (Fig. 1). It has three rings of cilia (small, hair-like projections) encircling its body and oral cavity, which are used for locomotion and feeding. Its body is supported by a rigid ring of interconnected discs called a chitinoid or denticular ring (Fig. 2). Each disc has a thorn-like inne...

Target Identification and Intervention Strategies against Kinetoplastid Protozoan Parasites

The past few decades have been marked by numerous admirable research efforts and promising technological advancements in the field of research on protozoan parasites. The parasites of this genre cause some devastating diseases that pose alarming threat to the mankind. Though several intervention strategies have been developed to get rid of these parasites, they always seem to frustrate the effo...