[Search for protective antigens of hookworms]

Hookworms are very important blood sucking nematode parasites of humans and domestic animals. The host with a heavy infection can lose almost a cup of blood per day. This may contribute to anemia which is associated with many physical and mental developmental insults. The works on obtaining an effective hookworm vaccine have been lasting for about eighty years. Recent identifications of a number of bioactive molecules produced by larval and adult stages of Ancylostomatidae are very helpful for selecting of nematode proteins crucial for host-parasite interactions and promising vaccine antigens. Many of these molecules are involved in host skin penetration by infective larvae, intestinal tissue invasion and digestion of haemoglobin and/or other macromolecular substrates. However, the results of many vaccination trials using recombinant forms of these proteins showed no sufficient protection against experimental hookworm infections.