The Leishmania spp, Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma brucei spp are
the causative agents of tropical infections, and over 20 million people worldwide suffer
from these neglected diseases. During the last century, vaccine development has had an
undeniable impact on public health and may offer some alternatives for the control of
parasitic diseases. Immune protection against experimental infection with these
parasites has been studied and many types of immunogens have been used. Use of new
technologies has allowed the development of recombinant proteins and DNA-based
vaccines against those protozoans, aiming to generate both humoral and cellular
protective responses. A large amount of data have been obtained from preclinical
model systems which gave us promising results. The main challenge at the present is to
translate what has been succeeded in these models into efficient human vaccines. The
objective of this review is to summarize the efforts of the science community about the
development of recombinant vaccines against trypanosomatids.
Keywords: African trypanosomiasis, Cellular response, Chagas disease, DNA
vaccine, Humoral response, Immunotherapy, Leishmania spp, Leishmaniasis,
Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi.
