Ruchishree Konhar ^1,2 Kanhu Charan Das ¹ Aiboklang Nongrum ¹ Rohan Raj Samal ¹ Shailesh Kumar Sarangi ¹ Devendra Kumar Biswal ^1*

• ¹ North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India
• ² Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Delhi, Delhi, India

Fasciolopsiasis, a food-borne intestinal disease is most common in Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Pigs are the reservoir host, and fasciolopsiasis is most widespread in locations where pigs are reared and aquatic plants are widely consumed. Human infection has been most commonly documented in China, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, and parts of India. It predominates in school-age children, and significant worm burdens are not uncommon. The causal organism is Fasciolopsis buski, a giant intestinal fluke that infects humans and causes diarrhoea, fever, ascites, and intestinal blockage. The increasing prevalence of medication resistance and the necessity for an effective vaccination make controlling these diseases challenging. Over the last decade, we have achieved major advances in our understanding of intestinal fluke biology by in-depth interrogation and analysis of evolving F. buski omics datasets. The creation of large omics datasets for F. buski by our group has accelerated the discovery of key molecules involved in intestinal fluke biology, toxicity, and virulence that can be targeted for vaccine development. Finding successful vaccination antigen combinations from these huge number of genes/proteins in the available omics datasets is the key in combating these neglected tropical diseases. In the present study, we developed an in silico workflow to select antigens for composing a chimeric vaccine, which could be a significant technique for developing a fasciolopsiasis vaccine that prevents the parasite from causing serious harm. This chimeric vaccine can now be tested experimentally and compared to other vaccine candidates to determine its potential influence on human health.