Mexican immunoparasitology: what is done and has to be done.

In this special issue of Parasite Immunology, the reader will find reviewed some of the hottest topics in immunoparasitology, with emphasis on the most studied parasite species in Mexico. For instance, the immunological conditions that appear favorable for the survival or destruction of the parasite in the intermediate and definitive hosts in cysticercosis, as well as the use of immunodiagnostic tests in epidemiological/intervention studies are discussed in two different articles. The role that alternatively activated macrophages plays in modulating host immunity is also discussed, while in the field of Leishmaniasis, the reader will find reviewed the role that CD8+ T cells play in the host defense during the human infection. The role that antibodies may play as biomarkers of protective or pathological cellular immune events in Toxoplasma gondii infections, as well as the new insights about the regulation of the inflammatory immune response by the cytokine/chemokine network in amebiasis, are topics reviewed. The use that TSL-1 antigens may have in the development of more sensitive and specific diagnosis of human and animal trichinellosis as well as the role that the neuroimmunoendocrine network plays during schistosomiasis are also presented. We hope that our readers will find fascinating and enticing, the first ever Special Issue devoted to Mexican Immunoparasitology.