Cryptosporidiosis: host immune responses and the prospects for effective immunotherapies.

Abstract

Cryptosporidium spp. that develop in intestinal epithelial cells are responsible for the diarrhoeal disease cryptosporidiosis, which is common in humans of all ages and in neonatal livestock. Following infection, parasite reproduction increases for a number of days before it is blunted and then impeded by innate and adaptive immune responses. Immunocompromised hosts often cannot establish strong immunity and develop chronic infections that can lead to death. Few drugs consistently inhibit parasite reproduction in the host, and chemotherapy might be ineffective in immunodeficient hosts. Future options for prevention or treatment of cryptosporidiosis might include vaccines or recombinant immunological molecules, but this will probably require a better understanding of both the mucosal immune system and intestinal immune responses to the parasite.

• Authors: Vincent McDonald
• Journal: Expert review of anti-infective therapy (Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther) Vol. 9 Issue 11 Pg. 1077-86 (Nov 2011) ISSN: 1744-8336 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 22029525 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Neutralizing
• Antibodies, Protozoan
• Cytokines
• Protozoan Vaccines

Topics

• Adaptive Immunity
• Animals
• Antibodies, Neutralizing (administration & dosage, immunology, therapeutic use)
• Antibodies, Protozoan (biosynthesis, immunology)
• B-Lymphocytes (drug effects, immunology, parasitology)
• Cryptosporidiosis (complications, drug therapy, immunology, parasitology, prevention & control)
• Cryptosporidium parvum (drug effects, immunology)
• Cytokines (biosynthesis)
• Diarrhea (drug therapy, etiology, immunology, parasitology, prevention & control)
• Humans
• Immunity, Innate
• Immunity, Mucosal
• Immunocompromised Host
• Immunotherapy
• Intestines (drug effects, immunology, parasitology)
• Killer Cells, Natural (drug effects, immunology, parasitology)
• Protozoan Vaccines (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• T-Lymphocytes (drug effects, immunology, parasitology)