Immunodominant T-cell antigens and epitopes of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina

Despite convincing evidence that T cells are critical for both cellular and humoral immunity against haemoprotozoan parasites, the difficulty of performing meaningful experiments in cattle that would define the role of T cells in immunity to Babesia spp. has impeded research in this area. However, experiments performed ex vivo with immune T cells can reflect in-vivo events, and provide valuable insight into the nature of immunogenic proteins and the responding lymphocytes. The progress made towards identification of the immunogenic proteins and epitopes that stimulate anamnestic CD4+ type-1 (inter-feron-γ-producing) T-cell responses in cattle immune to challenge with Babesia bovis or B. bigemina is the subject of the present review.