title: Leishmania tarentolae secreting the sand fly salivary antigen PpSP15 confers protection against Leishmania major infection in a susceptible BALB/c mice model.
abstract: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a zoonotic, vector-borne disease causing a major health problem in several countries. No vaccine is available and there are limitations associated with the current therapeutic regimens. Immune responses to sand fly saliva have been shown to protect against Leishmania infection. A cellular immune response to PpSP15, a protein from the sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi, was sufficient to control Leishmania major infection in mice. This work presents data supporting the vaccine potency of recombinant live non-pathogenic Leishmania (L.) tarentolae secreting PpSP15 in mice and its potential as a new vaccine strategy against L. major. We generated a recombinant L. tarentolae-PpSP15 strain delivered in the presence of CpG ODN and evaluated its immunogenicity and protective immunity against L. major infection in BALB/c mice. In parallel, different vaccination modalities using PpSP15 as the target antigen were compared. Humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated before and at three and eight weeks after challenge. Footpad swelling and parasite load were assessed at eight and eleven weeks post-challenge. Our results show that vaccination with L. tarentolae-PpSP15 in combination with CpG as a prime-boost modality confers strong protection against L. major infection that was superior to other vaccination modalities used in this study. This approach represents a novel and promising vaccination strategy against Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis.
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Katebi
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Gholami
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Taheri
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Zahedifard
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Habibzadeh
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Taslimi
authors: Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Shokri
authors: Research Center in Infectious Diseases, CHU de Québec Research Center and Department of Microbiology, Infectious Disease and Immunology, Laval University, Quebec (QC), Canada University, Quebec (QC), Canada.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Papadopoulou
authors: Vector Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, 20852, USA.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Kamhawi
authors: Vector Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, 20852, USA.
authors: J G
authors: JG
authors: Valenzuela
authors: Department of Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: s_rafati@yahoo.com.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Rafati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007891:Leishmania / Q000378:metabolism*; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000502:physiology*; D054332:Leishmaniasis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000276:immunology; D010271:Parasites / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: C408982:CPG-oligonucleotide; D019476:Insect Proteins; D020381:Interleukin-17; D054332:Leishmaniasis Vaccines; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D004247:DNA
keywords: BALB/c mice CpG; L. major; L. tarentolae-PpSP15; Saliva; Sand fly; Vaccine