Tick vaccines: current status and future directions

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are a growing problem affecting human and animal health worldwide. Traditional control methods, based primarily on chemical acaricides, have proven not to be sustainable because of the selection of acaricide-resistant ticks. Tick vaccines appear to be a promising and effective alternative for control of tick infestations and pathogen transmission. The purpose of this review is to summarize previous tick vaccine development and performance and formulate critical issues and recommendations for future directions for the development of improved and effective tick vaccines. The development of effective screening platforms and algorithms using omics approaches focused on relevant biological processes will allow the discovery of new tick-protective antigens. Future vaccines will likely combine tick antigens with different protective mechanisms alone or pathogen-derived antigens. The application of tick vaccines as a part of integrated control strategies will ultimately result in the control of tick-borne diseases.