Sarkar, Eti, Sikder, Suchandan, Giacomin, Paul, and Loukas, Alex (2024) Hookworm vaccines: current and future directions. Expert Review of Vaccines, 23 (1). pp. 1029-1040.

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Abstract

Introduction: Hookworms infect about half a billion people worldwide and are responsible for the loss of more than two billion disability-adjusted life years. Mass drug administration (MDA) is the most popular preventive approach, but it does not prevent reinfection. An effective vaccine would be a major public health tool in hookworm-endemic areas.

Areas covered: We highlight recent human studies where vaccination with irradiated larvae and repeated rounds of infection-treatment have induced partial protection. These studies have emphasized the importance of targeting the infective larvae to generate immunity to prevent adult worms from maturing in the gut. We summarize the current status of human and animal model vaccine trials.

Expert opinion: Hookworm infection is endemic in resource-poor developing regions where polyparasitism is common, and vaccine cold chain logistics are complex. Humans do not develop sterile immunity to hookworms, and the elderly are frequently overlooked in MDA campaigns. For all these reasons, a vaccine is essential to create long-lasting protection. The lack of a robust animal model to mimic human hookworm infections is a barrier to the discovery and development of a vaccine, however, there have been major recent advances in human challenge studies which will accelerate the process.

Item ID:	85598
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1744-8395
Copyright Information:	© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Funders:	National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants:	NHMRC Investigator Grant 2008450
Date Deposited:	27 May 2025 23:22
FoR Codes:	32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3204 Immunology > 320405 Humoural immunology and immunochemistry @ 30% 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3207 Medical microbiology > 320704 Medical parasitology @ 70%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200407 Health status (incl. wellbeing) @ 100%
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