Rhomboid antigens are promising targets in the vaccine development against Toxoplasma gondii

Authors

  • Masoud Foroutan Abadan School of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
  • Leila Zaki Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
  • Sanaz Tavakoli Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
  • Shahrzad Soltani Abadan School of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran
  • Ali Taghipour Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
  • Fatemeh Ghaffarifar Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, P.O. Box 14115-111, Iran, Tel: +98-21-82884553, Fax: +98-21-82884555, E-mail: ghafarif@modares.ac.ir

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1993

Keywords:

Toxoplasma gondii, rhomboid, vaccines, immunization, adjuvant

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an obligate intracellular parasite with worldwide distribution. It is estimated that near one-third of the people around the globe are latently seropositive for the parasite. Since the current common drugs are incapable in the elimination of parasites within tissue cysts, the development of an effective vaccine has high priority for researchers to limit the infection. During recent years, non-stop efforts of scientists have made great progress in the identification and development of T. gondii candidate vaccines. However, there is a lack of a commercially licensed vaccine for human application yet. Rhomboid proteases (ROMs) are a class of serine proteases that have an important role in the invasion of the parasites that can be considered as a new target for vaccine strategy. They also play critical roles in mitochondrial fusion and growth factor signaling, allowing the parasite to completely enter into the host cell. In the current review, we have summarized the recent progress regarding the development of ROM-based vaccines against acute and chronic T. gondii infection in animal models.

Published

2019-05-21

How to Cite

Foroutan, M., Zaki, L., Tavakoli, S., Soltani, S., Taghipour, A., & Ghaffarifar, F. (2019). Rhomboid antigens are promising targets in the vaccine development against Toxoplasma gondii. EXCLI Journal, 18, 259–272. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1993

Issue

Section

Review articles