Researchers have taken an important step in the development of an infection controlled model to test future vaccines against leishmaniasis.
The study led by the University of York has identified and characterized a new strain of Leishmania parasite that will form the basis of a new model of controlled human infection for the phlebotomus-bite-borne disease. The team then produced the parasite to the standards required for use in human clinical trials.
The use of controlled models of human infectionhas already proven invaluable in accelerating the development of vaccines for cholera, malaria, typhoid, influenza and other major infectious diseases.
An estimated one billion people globally are at risk of contracting leishmaniasis in more than 98 countries.
Professor Paul Kaye of Hull York Medical School, who led the study, said, "This is an important milestone for leishmaniasis vaccine development, bringing us closer to having the tools we need to evaluate potentially life-saving vaccines.
Reducing the financial burden associated with large-scale clinical trials is of particular importance, given the limited funding available to develop vaccines for neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis."
The next phase of the project will try to recruit healthy volunteers to participate in a clinical trial to see how the body responds to the parasite.
Leishmaniasis is characterized by slowly healing skin ulcers that can spread to other areas of the body or mucosal surfaces causing permanent stigma, or to internal organs resulting in potentially fatal visceral leishmaniasis. Current drug treatments are inadequate and there is currently no vaccine for human leishmaniasis. Each year 1,500,000 new cases and 20,000-30,000 deaths are reported.
Source: Science Daily
