Differences in the salivary effects of wild-caught versus colonized Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) on the development of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice.

S. Ben Hadj Ahmed (1, 2) , I. Chelbi (2) , B. Kaabi (2) , S. Cherni (2) , M. Derbali (2) , E. Zhioua (2)

1 Department of Biology, University of Gafsa
2 Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Systèmes Vectoriels

Preimmunization of mice with salivary gland homogenate (SGH) of long-term colonized (F29) female Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli (Diptera: Psychodidae) induced protection against Leishmania major Yakimoff & Schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) co-inoculated with the same type of SGH. In contrast, preimmunization of mice with SGH of wild-caught female P. papatasi did not confer protection against L. major co-inoculated with the same type of SGH. Similarly, SGH from recently colonized (F1) female P. papatasi did not protect mice against L. major. These results suggest that when developing a sand fly saliva-based vaccine, the natural vector populations should be considered.

Keywords: Phlebotomus papatasi; saliva; Leishmania major; vaccine; zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis

Domains: Infectious diseases

S. Ben Hadj Ahmed, I. Chelbi, B. Kaabi, S. Cherni, M. Derbali, et al.. Differences in the salivary effects of wild-caught versus colonized Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) on the development of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice.. Journal of Medical Entomology, 2010, 47 (1), pp.74-79. ⟨10.1093/jmedent/47.1.74⟩. ⟨pasteur-00604860⟩