Open AccessVaccination with Leishmania soluble antigen and immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides induces specific immunity and protection against Leishmania donovani infection
Author(s) -
Tewary Poonam,
Mehta Jayesh,
Sukumaran Bindu,
Madhubala Rentala
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsim.2004.05.008
Subject(s) - leishmania donovani , vaccination , biology , immunity , leishmania , virology , antigen , immunology , leishmania major , microbiology and biotechnology , leishmaniasis , immune system , visceral leishmaniasis , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science
In this report, we investigated the effect of ODN containing immunostimulatory CG motifs as adjuvant with soluble antigen (SA) from Leishmania donovani . BALB/c mice were vaccinated with the soluble antigen with or without CpG‐ODN as adjuvant and then challenged with L. donovani metacyclic promastigotes. CpG‐ODN alone resulted in partial protection against challenge with L. donovani . Immunization of mice with SA and CpG‐ODN showed enhanced reduction in parasite load (∼60%) when compared to SA (∼40%) immunized mice. Immunization with SA by itself resulted in a mixed Th1/Th2 response whereas co‐administration of SA with CpG‐ODN resulted in a strong Th1 promoting isotype as they together promoted production of immunoglobulin G2a. Leishmania ‐specific Th1 cytokine response was induced by co‐administering CpG‐ODN and SA as they together promoted production of IFN‐γ and IL‐12. In the present study, we demonstrate that immunostimulatory phosphorothioate‐modified ODN are promising immune enhancers for vaccination against visceral leishmaniaisis.