title: Intranasal delivery of naked DNA encoding the LACK antigen leads to protective immunity against visceral leishmaniasis in mice.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21.949-900 Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel Cláudio de Oliveira
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Eduardo Fonseca
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Luiz Dione Barbosa
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: de Melo
authors.forename: Wallace Pacienza
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Larraga
authors.forename: Ulisses Gazos
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Bartira
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rossi-Bergmann
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines; C093139:LACK antigen, Leishmania; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma