Antigen targeting to APC: from mice to veterinary species.

Antigen delivery to receptors expressed on antigen presenting cells (APC) has shown to improve immunogenicity of vaccines in mice. An enhancement of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), helper T cell or humoral responses was obtained depending on the type of APC and the surface molecule targeted. Although this strategy is being also evaluated in livestock animals with promising results, some discrepancies have been found between species and pathogens. The genetic diversity of livestock animals, the different pattern of expression of some receptors among species, the use of different markers to characterize APC in large animals and sometimes the lack of reagents make difficult to compare results obtained in different species. In this review, we summarize the data available regarding antigen targeting to APC receptors in cattle, sheep and pig and discuss the results found in these animals in the context of what has been obtained in mice.