Lay summary
Hookworm is estimated to cause suffering to over 1 billion people worldwide. There is an urgent need to identify the immune mechanisms that can protect against this infection. We have discovered using a rodent hookworm (Nippostrongylus brasiliensis) model that the lung can prime effective immunity against the migrating worms. We propose to use cytokine deficient and GFP reporter mice to discover the critical cytokines and effector molecules that mediate protective immunity against hookworm larvae. The information and technologies we develop will inform which cytokines and cells need to be targeted, both for vaccine design and testing of vaccine efficacy in the field. This work will represent an important New Zealand contribution to the global vaccine initiative against human hookworm.