title: The Leishmania HSP20 is antigenic during natural infections, but, as DNA vaccine, it does not protect BALB/c mice against experimental L. amazonensis infection.
abstract: Protozoa of the genus Leishmania are causative agents of leishmaniasis, an important health problem in both human and veterinary medicine. Here, we describe a new heat shock protein (HSP) in Leishmania, belonging to the small HSP (sHSP) family in kinetoplastids. The protein is highly conserved in different Leishmania species, showing instead significant divergence with sHSP's from other organisms. The humoral response elicited against this protein during Leishmania infection has been investigated in natural infected humans and dogs, and in experimentally infected hamsters. Leishmania HSP20 is a prominent antigen for canine hosts; on the contrary, the protein seems to be a poor antigen for human immune system. Time-course analysis of appearance of anti-HSP20 antibodies in golden hamsters indicated that these antibodies are produced at late stages of the infection, when clinical symptoms of disease are patent. Finally, the protective efficacy of HSP20 was assessed in mice using a DNA vaccine approach prior to challenge with Leishmania amazonensis.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Tropical "Pedro Kouri", La Habana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Montalvo-Alvarez
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Folgueira
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrión
authors.forename: Lianet
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monzote-Fidalgo
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cañavate
authors.forename: Jose M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Requena
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D050886:HSP20 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology*; D007891:Leishmania / Q000276:immunology*; D007896:Leishmaniasis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D050886:HSP20 Heat-Shock Proteins; D019444:Vaccines, DNA