Intranasal delivery of naked DNA encoding the LACK antigen leads to protective immunity against visceral leishmaniasis in mice.
We previously showed that intranasal (i.n.) vaccination with pCIneo plasmid encoding the leishmanial LACK gene (pCIneo-LACK) induces long-lasting protective immunity against cutaneous leishmaniasis in mice. In this work, we proposed to investigate whether the efficacy of i.n. pCIneo-LACK is extensive to visceral leishmaniasis. BALB/c mice received two i.n. doses of 30 microg pCIneo-LACK prior to intravenous (i.v.) infection with Leishmania chagasi. Vaccinated mice developed significantly lower parasite burden in the liver and spleen than control mice receiving empty pCIneo or saline. The spleen cells of vaccinated mice produced significantly increased IFN-gamma and IL-4 concomitant with decreased IL-10 production during infection. Serum levels of specific IgG were elevated whereas TNF-alpha were decreased as compared with controls. These results show that the practical needle-free i.n. pCIneo-LACK vaccine displays potential broad-spectrum activity against leishmaniasis.
Gomes
Daniel Cláudio de Oliveira
DC
Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21.949-900 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil.
Pinto
Eduardo Fonseca
EF
de Melo
Luiz Dione Barbosa
LD
Lima
Wallace Pacienza
WP
Larraga
Vicente
V
Lopes
Ulisses Gazos
UG
Rossi-Bergmann
Bartira
B
D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010957:Plasmids / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines; C093139:LACK antigen, Leishmania; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma