Ticks are blood sucking ectoparasite that transmit several pathogens to humans and animals. Tick management focusing on use of chemicals has several drawbacks including development of multi-acaricide resistant tick populations. To minimize the use of chemicals on animals and on the environment, immunization of natural hosts is considered a viable component of Integrated Tick Management System. Most of the tick vaccine trials are focused on single antigen immunization directed against homologous challenge. From commercial point of view, vaccination against one given tick species is not a feasible option. In this context, multi-antigen vaccines comprising of candidate antigens of multiple tick species or both ticks and tick-borne pathogens have commercial potential. Different strategies are considered for the development of multi-antigen tick and/or tick-borne pathogen vaccines. Further, the efficacy of vaccine can be improved by adopting the ‘omics’ tools and techniques in selection of novel antigens and efficient delivery like Lipid Nano Particle (LNP)-mRNA vaccines, viral vector vaccine, live vector vaccine etc. into the host. The subject has been reviewed to address the current status of multi antigen tick vaccines and formulations of the future strategies for the control of TTBDs of human and animals.

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The recent advancement in genome sequencing facilities, proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics of eukaryotes have opened door for employment of molecular diagnostic techniques for early detection of parasites and determining target molecules for formulating control strategies. It further leads to the introduction of several purified vaccines in the field of veterinary parasitology. Earlier, the conventional diagnostic methods was entirely based upon morphological taxonomy for diagnosis of parasites but nowadays improved molecular techniques help in phylogenetic study and open an another area of molecular taxonomy of parasites with high precision. Control measures based upon targeting endosymbionts in parasites like Dirofilaria immitis is also under exploration in veterinary parasitology. Metagenomics have added an inside story of parasites bionomics which have created havoc in human and animals population since centuries. Omics era is playing a key role in opening the new approaches on parasite biology. Various newer generations of safer vaccines like edible vaccines and subunit vaccines and diagnostic techniques based upon purified immunologically active epitopes have become commercially available against the parasites (helminths, protozoa and arthropod borne diseases). Nowadays, a transgenic and gene knock out studies using RNA interference and CRISPR are also helping in understanding the functions of genes and screening of target genes, which are not available before the advent of molecular tools. Molecular techniques had paramount impact on increasing the sensitivity of diagnostic tools, epidemiological studies and more importantly in controlling these diseases. This review is about the advancements in veterinary parasitology and their impact on the control of these pathogens.

The immunoprophylactic management of ticks is the most effective option to control tick infestations and counter spread the acaricide resistance problem worldwide. Several researchers reported an inconsistent efficacy of the single antigen-based immunization of hosts against different tick species. In the present study, to develop a multi-target immunization protocol, proteins from Rhipicephalus microplus BM86 and Hyalomma anatolicum subolesin (SUB) and tropomyosin (TPM) were targeted to evaluate the cross-protective potential. The sequence identities of the BM86, SUB, and TPM coding genes amongst Indian tick isolates of targeted species were 95.6–99.8%, 98.7–99.6%, and 98.9–99.9%, respectively, while at the predicted amino acid level, the identities were 93.2 to 99.5, 97.6 to 99.4, and 98.2 to 99.3%. The targeted genes were expressed in the eukaryotic expression system, pKLAC2-Kluyveromyces lactis, and 100 µg each of purified recombinant protein (Bm86-89 kDa, SUB-21 kDa, and TPM-36 kDa) mixed with adjuvant was injected individually through the intramuscular route at different sites of the body on days 0, 30, and 60 to immunize cross-bred cattle. Post-immunization, a statistically significant (p < 0.001) antibody response (IgG, IgG1, and IgG2) in comparison to the control, starting from 15 to 140 days, against each antigen was recorded. Following multi-antigen immunization, the animals were challenged twice with the larvae of R. microplus and H. anatolicum and theadults of H. anatolicum, and a significant vaccine efficacy of 87.2% and 86.2% against H. anatolicum larvae and adults, respectively, and 86.7% against R. microplus was obtained. The current study provides significant support to develop a multi-antigen vaccine against cattle tick species.

The control of cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, is focused on repeated use of acaricides. However, due to growing acaricide resistance and residues problem, immunization of animals along with limited use of effective acaricides is considered a suitable option for the control of tick infestations. To date, more than fifty vaccine candidates have been identified and tested worldwide, but two vaccines were developed using the extensively studied candidate, Bm86. The main reason for limited vaccine commercialization in other countries is genetic diversity in the Bm86 gene leading to considerable variation in vaccine efficacy. India, with 193.46 million cattle population distributed in 28 states and 9 union territories, is suffering from multiple tick infestation dominated by R. microplus. As R. microplus has developed multi-acaricide resistance, an efficacious vaccine may provide a sustainable intervention for tick control. Preliminary experiments revealed that the presently available commercial vaccine based on the BM86 gene is not efficacious against Indian strain. In concert with the principle of reverse vaccinology, genetic polymorphism of the Bm86 gene within Indian isolates of R. microplus was studied. A 578 bp conserved nucleotide sequences of Bm86 from 65 R. microplus isolates collected from 9 Indian states was sequenced and revealed 95.6–99.8% and 93.2–99.5% identity in nucleotides and amino acids sequences, respectively. The identities of nucleotides and deduced amino acids were 94.7–99.8% and 91.8–99.5%, respectively, between full-length sequence (orf) of the Bm86 gene of IVRI-I strain and published sequences of vaccine strains. Six nucleotides deletion were observed in Indian Bm86 sequences. Four B-cell epitopes (D519-K554, H563-Q587, C598-T606, T609-K623), which are present in the conserved region of the IVRI-I Bm86 sequence, were selected. The results confirm that the use of available commercial Bm86 vaccines is not a suitable option against Indian isolates of R. microplus. A country-specific multi-epitope Bm86 vaccine consisting of four specific B-cell epitopes along with candidate molecules, subolesin and tropomyosin in chimeric/co-immunization format may provide a sustainable option for implementation in an integrated tick management system.