The project aims to explore the vaccine potential of parasitic extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from Ascaridae roundworms (Parascaris, Ascaris and Toxoacara). Billions of people are infected with roundworms (nematodes). Globally, increased antibiotic resistance (AR) and anthelminthic resistance (AHR) in bacteria, fungi, protozoans, and parasitic worms (helminths) is becoming a major societal problem. Furthermore, the drugs used causes environmental pollution, severely affecting butterflies and beetles on pasture. Thus, increased nematode drug resistance calls for new strategies to reduce the use of anthelminthic drugs.
Nematodes release pleiotropic virulence and immunomodulatory molecules, such as excretory-secretory proteins (ESPs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs, loaded with proteins and microRNAs). The secreted ESPs and EVs improve “parasite fitness” via interference with the host’s immune response. Strikingly, recent data showed that “vaccination” with EVs derived from the murine hookworm Heligmosomoides bakeri resulted in protective immunity against a challenge infection, suggesting that the defined peptide content of different parasitic EVs could be used as a blue print for the successful development of multi-component therapeutic anthelminthic vaccines.
Possible project questions are:
Characterization of the extracellular vesicle (EV) content (30 hp)
The microRNA content of Parascaris and Toxocara EVs have been sequenced by the SciLifeLab in Solna. The protein content of EVs released from Parascaris, Ascaris and Toxocara should be analyzed with label-free proteomics at SciLifeLab in Uppsala. In the project you will sort, annotate and compare the data sets using bioinformatics.
Open project start, exam project for veterinarians, and for candidate/master students
