Study may aid fast track vaccine creation

HANOVER, N.H., April 14 (UPI) -- In what's described as a genetic leap, U.S. researchers have discovered how to destroy a key DNA pathway in a widespread human parasite.

Dartmouth Medical School scientists said their findings could help fast track vaccine and drug development to prevent or mitigate serious global diseases. They said their achievement surmounts a major hurdle for targeting genes in Toxoplasma gondii -- an infection model whose close relatives are responsible for diseases that include malaria and severe diarrhea.

"This opens a wide window on a complex parasite family and can help accelerate the development of safe and effective genetically modified vaccines and drug therapies," said Professor David Bzik, who led the study.

The scientists said their findings makes T. gondii an effective model for understanding a globally significant parasite family and holds promise for speeding new therapies.

"Fundamentally, all possible growth and virulence factors as well as the potential for transmission must be first genetically deleted; then key protective antigens or genes from other sources must be introduced in a precisely defined way," said Barbara Fox, a senior research associate and lead author of the study. "We needed to be able to do this efficiently, reliably and cleanly. Now we can."

The work that included Jessica Ristuccia and Jason Gigley is reported in the journal Eukaryotic Cell.