Objective
Helminth infections are among the most neglected communicable diseases afflicting developing countries. Pharmacological treatments are compromised by rapid re-infection, variable compliance, and emerging resistance. Vaccination has not yet succeeded in evoking strong resistance. The critical barrier in helminth control remains the failure of the immune system to clear parasites despite antigen recognition. Addressing the fundamental question of why the immune system is restrained from killing parasites, will offer a novel route for intervention to achieve an immunological cure.
Recent developments in immunology offer a conceptual framework to understand the failure of immunity and suggest how to restore the full potential of our defence mechanisms. In this model, parasites induce regulatory T cell populations, which suppress anti-parasite effector cells, as part of the parasites own strategy for survival in the host. Because regulatory T cells are stimulated by parasite antigens, repeated infection or vaccination will induce a modest immune response, but fall short at the critical effector cell level required for parasite killing. Only by inactivating or removing the regulatory T cells can the immune response display its full capability to eliminate the parasites.
We will develop this new avenue for disease control while assessing how new treatments will be accepted by the endemic populations. Our proposal is thus one of general significance to chronic infection, as well as one that will provide specific pathways to novel treatments of human schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis. These two diseases represent a massive public health problem with 300 million people infected in the world today. Intervention by ablating parasite-specific regulatory T cells in these patients will solve the specific problems of schistosomiasis and filarial diseases, while at the same time proving a principle which will be applicable to chronic infections in general.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2004-INCO-DEV-3
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
EDINBURGH
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.