Pre—clinical development of Trans—sialidase based prophylactic vaccines against Chagas disease.

Abstract

Chagas disease (ChD) is caused by the flagellated parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), representing a serious public health in Latin America. Currently, there are prevention measures such as blood screening, control of pregnant women and vector control, but more effective strategies are still required to prevent new cases. One of these strategies is the development of a prophylactic vaccine against T. cruzi. Since the discovery of the disease in 1909, different experimental vaccines have been evaluated, but the clinical development of an effective formulation against the parasite has not yet been achieved. Here, we review the different vaccination strategies that have been evaluated to date, and particularly, the use of the enzyme Trans—sialidase (TS) as a vaccine antigen. We also address different aspects of the TS superfamily, such as the classification of the different proteins, their functional characteristics, and their role in T. cruzi infection. Over 100 years, a great diversity of vaccine strategies against T. cruzi have been approached and refined, auguring that in the near future it will be possible to cross from the pre—clinical to the clinical field.