Open AccessVaccination with whole-cell killed or recombinant leishmanial protein and toll-like receptor agonists against Leishmania tropica in BALB/c mice
Author(s) -
Mosayeb Rostamian,
Fatemeh Bahrami,
Hamid Mahmoudzadeh Niknam
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0204491
Subject(s) - leishmania tropica , adjuvant , vaccination , immunology , cutaneous leishmaniasis , leishmania major , leishmania , antigen , tlr7 , biology , immune system , parasite load , leishmaniasis , microbiology and biotechnology , virology , toll like receptor , innate immune system , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science
One strategy to control leishmaniasis is vaccination with potent antigens alongside suitable adjuvants. The use of toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists as adjuvants is a promising approach in Leishmania vaccine research. Leishmania ( L .) tropica is among the less-investigated Leishmania species and a causative agent of cutaneous and sometimes visceral leishmaniasis with no approved vaccine against it. In the present study, we assessed the adjuvant effects of a TLR4 agonist, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) and a TLR7/8 agonist, R848 beside two different types of Leishmania vaccine candidates; namely, whole-cell soluble L . tropica antigen (SLA) and recombinant L . tropica stress-inducible protein-1 (LtSTI1). BALB/c mice were vaccinated three times by the antigens (SLA or LtSTI1) with MPL or R848 and then were challenged by L . tropica . Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), parasite load, disease progression and cytokines (IL-10 and IFN-γ) responses were assessed. In general compared to SLA, application of LtSTI1 resulted in higher DTH, higher IFN-γ response and lower lymph node parasite load. Also compared to R848, MPL as an adjuvant resulted in higher DTH and lower lymph node parasite load. Although, no outstanding ability for SLA and R848 in evoking immune responses of BALB/c mice against L . tropica infection could be observed, our data suggest that LtSTI1 and MPL have a better potential to control L . tropica infection and could be pursued for the development of effective vaccination strategies.