title: Comparative evaluation of therapeutic DNA vaccines against Trypanosoma cruzi in mice.
abstract: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a major public health problem in most of Latin America. A key priority is the development of new treatments, due to the poor efficacy of current ones. We report here the comparative evaluation of therapeutic DNA vaccines encoding various T. cruzi antigens. ICR mice infected with 500 parasites intraperitoneally were treated at 5 and 12 days postinfection with 20 microg of plasmid DNA encoding T. cruzi antigens TSA-1, TS, ASP-2-like, Tc52 or Tc24. Treatment with plasmid encoding TS and/or ASP-2-like antigens had no significant effect on parasitemia or survival. Treatment with Tc52 DNA significantly reduced parasitemia, as well as cardiac parasite burden, and improved survival, although myocarditis was not significantly affected. Finally, treatment with plasmids encoding Tc24 and TSA-1 induced the most complete control of disease as evidenced by significant reductions in parasitemia, mortality, myocarditis and heart parasite burden. These data demonstrate that therapeutic vaccine efficacy is dependent on the antigen and suggest that DNA vaccines encoding Tc24, TSA-1, and Tc52 represent the best candidates for further studies of a therapeutic vaccine against Chagas disease.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Parasitología, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr Hideyo Noguchi, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.
authors.forename: Gilma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Burgos
authors.forename: R Gabino
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mezquita-Vega
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Escobedo-Ortegon
authors.forename: Maria Jesus
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ramirez-Sierra
authors.forename: Arletty
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arjona-Torres
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouaissi
authors.forename: Mauricio M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dumonteil
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000188:drug therapy; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA