More than 740 million people worldwide are infected with Hookworm. Hookworm infection is most prevalent in the poorest of the poor populations of the world, and has serious health effects. Hookworm infection causes blood loss leading to iron deficiency anemia and protein energy malnutrition, which results in a compromised immune response. Consequently, the target human population suffers from an increased susceptibility to infectious diseases including hookworm infection. We have developed recombinant adult hookworm vaccines against hookworm infection to break this vicious cycle. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 agonist are known to boost immune response in healthy and immunocompromised individuals. We believe that co-injecting Synthetic Glucopyranosyl Lipid Adjuvant (GLA) a novel TLR-4 agonist with adult hookworm Na-GST-1 + Alhydrogel® vaccine will produce a robust and sustainable immune response in this target human population. Here, we discuss the rationale of using GLA, study designs and the results of the pre-clinical immunogenicity studies of the Human Hookworm Na-GST-1 + Alhydrogel® Vaccine in BALB/c mice with and without GLA. We conclude that, GLA enhanced the immunogenicity of co-administered adult hookworm Na-GST-1 + Alhydrogel® vaccine, producing a strong anti-Na-GST-1 IgG response. These preclinical results lay the foundation of co-administrating GLA with adult hookworm Na-GST-1 + Alhydrogel® vaccine in Phase 1 clinical trial in Brazil
