Understanding growth and development in the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica: exposing new targets for improved parasite control

Increasing reports offlukicide resistance threatens to undermine <i>F. hepatica</i> control andaccentuates the need for both improved diagnostics and novel therapeutic targetdiscovery. Chapter 2 exploited F. hepatica eggs to demonstrate the utility ofegg-derived data in the diagnosis of resistance.

The WMicroTracker bioassayplatform shows promise as an automated, high throughput egg hatch assay.Parallels were also uncovered between the neoblast-like stem cells of eggs andpathogenic juvenile fluke. <i>F. hepatica</i> growth, development and virulenceare driven by the proliferation of neoblast-like cells, such that theirdysregulation represents an attractive avenue for control. Chapters 3 and 4exploited available genomic/transcriptomic datasets and an in vitro cultureplatform to identify and functionally interrogate molecular signalling pathwaysunderpinning growth, development and cell cycle events in growing juveniles.Wnt signalling was found to be conserved in fluke, with both fluorescence <i>insitu</i> hybridisation and RNA interference (RNAi)-induced gene silencingdemonstrating the vital roles played by Wnt pathway components in thegrowth/development of diverse cell/tissue types.