The Role of Antibody in Parasitic Helminth Infections

A wealth of data on the protective immune mechanisms induced following helminth infection exist, but how antibody responses protect against helminth infections is unclear and shows variation between species. Understanding antibody responses to different helminth species is important to support the future development of anti-helminth vaccines that will be robust enough to protect against/inhibit infection (acute or chronic). Both the biological similarities and diversity of helminths highlights the importance of understanding both broad anti-helminth and species-specific host antibody responses. Vaccine development requires knowledge of which molecules would stimulate the most protective antibody responses, and whether certain molecules would be cross-reactive between species to be used for protection against multiple helminth species. Such information may lead to a reduced cost of vaccine development, encouraging effective implementation. The aim of this chapter is to assimilate our current understanding of antibody responses to helminths in mice, livestock and humans, and to discuss their importance in the context of potential vaccine development.