Rodríguez-Mallon Alina
Animal Biotechnology Department, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Avenue 31 between 158 and 190, P.O. Box 6162, Havana 10600, Cuba.
Pathogens. 2023 Feb 2;12(2):231. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12020231.
The presence in nature of species with genetic resistance to ticks, or with acquired resistance after repeated tick infestations, has encouraged the scientific community to consider vaccination as an alternative to the unsustainable chemical control of ticks. After numerous attempts to artificially immunize hosts with tick extracts, the purification and characterization of the Bm86 antigen by Willadsen et al. in 1989 constituted a revolutionary step forward in the development of vaccines against ticks. Previously, innovative studies that had used tick gut extracts for the immunization of cattle against (previously named ) ticks, with amazingly successful results, demonstrated the feasibility of using antigens other than salivary-gland-derived molecules to induce a strong anti-tick immunity. However, the practical application of an anti-tick vaccine required the isolation, identification, and purification of the responsible antigen, which was finally defined as the Bm86 protein. More than thirty years later, the only commercially available anti-tick vaccines are still based on this antigen, and all our current knowledge about the field application of immunological control based on vaccination against ticks has been obtained through the use of these vaccines.
自然界中存在对蜱具有遗传抗性或在反复感染蜱后获得抗性的物种，这促使科学界将疫苗接种视为蜱虫不可持续化学防治的替代方法。在用蜱提取物对宿主进行人工免疫的多次尝试后，1989年Willadsen等人对Bm86抗原的纯化和表征是蜱虫疫苗开发中向前迈出的革命性一步。此前，一些创新性研究曾使用蜱肠道提取物对牛进行免疫以抵抗（以前称为）蜱虫，取得了惊人的成功结果，证明了使用唾液腺衍生分子以外的抗原诱导强烈抗蜱免疫的可行性。然而，抗蜱疫苗的实际应用需要分离、鉴定和纯化相关抗原，最终确定该抗原为Bm86蛋白。三十多年后，唯一可商购的抗蜱疫苗仍然基于这种抗原，而且我们目前关于基于蜱虫疫苗接种的免疫控制现场应用的所有知识都是通过使用这些疫苗获得的。
