USE OF HELPER T-CELLS TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL VACCINE ANTIGENS OF BABESIA-BOVIS

Babesia bovis is an economically important hemoprotozoan parasite of c attle that is prevalent in many tropical and subtropical regions of th e world. effective vaccines against this tick-transmitted parasite con sist of live organisms attenuated by passage through splenectomized ca lves. However, the nature of acquired resistance to challenge infectio n with heterologous isolates of the parasite has not been clearly defi ned. Unsuccessful attempts to select protective antigens have relied u pon the use of antibodies to identify immunodominant proteins. In this review, Wendy Brown and Allison Rice-ficht discuss the limitations of this approach and the rationale behind using helper T cells to select potential vaccine antigens.