title: Immunological comparison of DNA vaccination using two delivery systems against canine leishmaniasis.
abstract: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a fatal disease caused by the intracellular protozoan parasite Leishmania infantum. Dogs are the primary reservoirs of this parasite, and vaccination of dogs could be an effective method to reduce its transfer to humans. In order to develop a vaccine against VL (apart from the choice of immunogenic candidate antigens), it is necessary to use an appropriate delivery system to promote a proper antigen-specific immune response. In this study, we compared two vaccine delivery systems, namely electroporation and cationic solid-lipid nanoparticle (cSLN) formulation, to administer a DNA vaccine containing the Leishmania donovani A2 antigen, and L. infantum cysteine proteinases of type I (CPA) and II (CPB) without its unusual C-terminal extension. The protective potencies of these two vaccine delivery systems were evaluated against L. infantum challenge in outbred dogs. Our results show that the administration of pcDNA-A2-CPA-CPB(-CTE)GFP vaccine as a prime-boost by either electroporation or cSLN formulation protects the dogs against L. infantum infection. Partial protection in vaccinated dogs is associated with significantly (p<0.05) higher levels of IgG2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α and with low levels of IgG1 and IL-10 as compared to the control group. Protection was also correlated with a low parasite burden and a strong delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response. This study demonstrates that both electroporation and cSLN formulation can be used as efficient vaccine delivery systems against visceral leishmaniasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahbazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Farnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zahedifard
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Noushin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saljoughian
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Delaram
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doroud
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jamshidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Niousha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mahdavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cytopathology, Daneshbod Pathology Laboratory, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sadegh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shirian
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cytopathology, Daneshbod Pathology Laboratory, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Yahya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Daneshbod
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Sayyed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamid Zarkesh-Esfahani
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Infectious Disease, CHU de Québec Research Centre and Department of Microbiology, Infectious Disease and Immunology, Laval University, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Papadopoulou
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69, Pasteur Ave., Tehran 13164, Iran. Electronic address: s_rafati@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004285:Dogs; D018274:Electroporation / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D007114:Immunization; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis*; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines; D019444:Vaccines, DNA
keywords: Canine leishmaniasis; Delivery systems; Immune response; Vaccine