A Trypanosomiasis vaccine is a

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

against

trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseas ...

. No effective vaccine currently exists, but development of a vaccine is the subject of current research. The

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

has been involved in funding research conducted by the

Sabin Vaccine Institute Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin), located in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit organization promoting global vaccine development, availability, and use. Through its work, Sabin hopes to reduce human suffering by preventing the spread of vaccine-pre ...

and others. There are many obstacles to development of such a vaccine. One obstacle is variant surface

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycos ...

which makes it difficult for the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

to recognize the infectious organism. Also, ''

Trypanosoma brucei ''Trypanosoma brucei'' is a species of parasitic Kinetoplastida, kinetoplastid belonging to the genus ''Trypanosoma'' that is present in sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike other protozoan parasites that normally infect blood and tissue cells, it is exclus ...

'' has a direct inhibitory effect upon

B cell B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system. B cells produce antibody molecules which may be either secreted or ...

s. It has been suggested that these challenges could be overcome by a vaccine against the initial

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

s, or generating an immune response against the

cysteine protease Cysteine proteases, also known as thiol proteases, are hydrolase enzymes that degrade proteins. These proteases share a common catalytic mechanism that involves a nucleophilic cysteine thiol in a catalytic triad or dyad. Discovered by Gopal Chund ...

(for example,

cruzipain Cruzipain is a cysteine protease expressed by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is classified under . Cruzipain is expressed by all strains and developmental forms of ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is secreted and can be found in the membrane of the parasite ...

). An effective vaccine was achieved in 2021 using a mouse model of infection with ''

Trypanosoma vivax ''Trypanosoma vivax'' is a parasite species in the genus ''Trypanosoma''. It causes the disease Animal trypanosomiasis, nagana, affecting cattle or wild mammals. It is mainly occurs in West Africa, although it has spread to South America. Range ...

''.

References

{{Vaccines Vaccines

See also

References