CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES ›› 2022, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 661-667.doi: 10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2022.05.015

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Research advances of multi-epitope vaccine candidates against toxoplasmosis

LI Run-hua1(), YIN Guo-rong2,*()   

  1. 1. Department of Biology, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong 030619, China
    2. Institute of Medical Parasitology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
  • Received:2022-02-01 Revised:2022-03-24 Online:2022-10-30 Published:2022-10-10
  • Contact: YIN Guo-rong E-mail:runhual@163.com;guorongyin@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(81071374)

Abstract:

Toxoplasma gondii infects almost all warm-blooded animals causing toxoplasmosis in humans and animals. Despite the significant progress in the recent efforts toward developing an effective vaccine against toxoplasmosis, no human vaccines are available to prevent this disease. However, vaccines based on a single or a few antigen candidates was only able to elicit partial protective immunity against T. gondii infection. Therefore, developing a polyvalent vaccine consisting of antigens from all stages of the parasite life cycle, including tachyzoites, bradyzoites, and sporozoites, is likely to be essential for sterile immunity. The combination of multi-epitopes from antigens of different stages of the parasite life cycle has become an promising strategy for building a potent, safe, and effective vaccine. Epitope-based vaccines have gained attention as novel vaccine candidates due to their ability of inducing protective immune responses. In this review, we have summarized the immunological basis, design, and construction strategy of epitope vaccines. We have reviewed the latest research advances of T. gondii epitope vaccines, and the application prospect of epitope vaccines as a new vaccine development and evaluation strategy.

Key words: Toxoplasmosis, B- and T-cell epitopes, Multi-epitope vaccine, Antigenic epitope

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