Trends in research on the immunology of trypanosomiasis.

It was thought timely, in view of the increasingly close association between immunology and parasitology, to attempt a synthesis of research on trypanosomiasis immunology-research which may be expected both to lead to the solution of practical problems in this disease and to provide models for the study of basic immunological problems.The author's discussion is based on four main applications of immunological knowledge: for diagnosis, for immunization of hosts, for explanation of pathological effects, and as a contribution to the understanding of cell function. Stress is laid on the importance of determining the range and extent of antigenic variation in trypanosome material, whether with a view to the development of reliable diagnostic tests (although quantitative estimation of IgM in serum and cerebrospinal fluid is a useful diagnostic tool circumventing the difficulties caused by antigenic variation during an infection) or for assessment of the possibility of developing antitrypanosomal vaccines. Emphasis is also placed, inter alia, on the need for standardization and determination of the purity of stabilate material exchanged between research laboratories.