Leishmania major: Protective capacity of DNA vaccine using amastin fused to HSV-1 VP22 and EGFP in BALB/c mice model.

Azam Bolhassani, Elham Gholami, Farnaz Zahedifard, Neda Moradin, Parto Parsi, Fatemeh Doustdari, Negar Seyed, Barbara Papadopoulou, Sima Rafati

Molecular Immunology and Vaccine Research Laboratory, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 69 Pasteur Ave., Tehran, Iran.

Experimental parasitology 2011 May

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An intercellular spreading strategy using herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) VP22 protein is employed to enhance DNA vaccine potency of Leishmania major amastin antigen in BALB/c mice model. We evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of plasmid DNA vaccines encoding amastin-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and VP22-amastin-EGFP. Optimal cell-mediated immune responses were observed in BALB/c mice immunized with VP22-amastin-EGFP as assessed by cytokine gene expression analysis using real time RT-PCR. Vaccination with the VP22-amastin-EGFP fusion construct elicited significantly higher IFN-gamma response upon antigen stimulation of splenocytes from immunized mice compared to amastin as a sole antigen. Mice immunized by VP22-amastin-EGFP showed partial protection following infectious challenge with L. major, as measured by parasite load in spleens. These results suggest that the development of DNA vaccines encoding VP22 fused to a target Leishmania antigen would be a promising strategy to improve immunogenicity and DNA vaccine potency. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Azam Bolhassani, Elham Gholami, Farnaz Zahedifard, Neda Moradin, Parto Parsi, Fatemeh Doustdari, Negar Seyed, Barbara Papadopoulou, Sima Rafati. Leishmania major: Protective capacity of DNA vaccine using amastin fused to HSV-1 VP22 and EGFP in BALB/c mice model. Experimental parasitology. 2011 May;128(1):9-17