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Several inbred strains of mice were infected by intraperitoneal injection of ten Taenia crassiceps cysticerci per mouse. Genes linked with the major histocompatibility complex (H-2) were found to influence parasite growth greatly, as demonstrated by the different parasite loads of H-2 congenic mice with BALB background: BALB/c (H-2d) mice were the most susceptible, whereas BALB/k (H-2k) and BALB/b (H-2b) animals were comparatively resistant. Non-H-2 genes had no significant effect on susceptibility in H-2d strains, as reflected by the similar parasite loads in BALB/c, DBA/2, and (BALB/c x DBA/2)F1 mice. Using the H-2b (BALB/b, C57BL/6J) and H-2k (C3H/HeJ, BALB/k, and C3HeB/FeJ) strains, we found that non-H-2 background genes caused a small but significant influence on parasite load. A recombinant mouse strain alleles (Kk, Ik, Sd, Dd) was also susceptible, indicating that S and/or D regions of the H-2d complex are probably involved in the control of resistance to murine cysticercosis. Females of all mouse strains were more susceptible than males. The same effects were observed for H-2 genes and sex, with two strains of T. crassiceps differing in their rate of growth.

Vaccination of mice with an antigen extract from Taenia solium cysticerci induced protection against challenge with T. crassiceps cysticerci as successfully as did antigen extracts from T. crassiceps. Vaccination was more effective in male than in female mice and in the resistant strain (BALB/B) more so than in the susceptible strain (BALB/c). While only the resistant strain was completely protected by vaccination, the parasite load of the susceptible strain was significantly reduced by vaccination. Cross immunity between the human and murine parasites establishes murine T. crassiceps cysticercosis as a convenient laboratory model in which to test promising T. solium antigens aimed at vaccine development against T. solium cysticercosis. Further, results point to strong interactions of the immune system with sexual and histocompatibility factors in the host's dealing with cysticercosis.

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