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

Azam Bolhassani (1) , Elham Gholami (1) , Farnaz Zahedifard (1) , Neda Moradin (1) , Parto Parsi (1, 2) , Fatemeh Doustdari (1) , Negar Seyed (1) , Barbara Papadopoulou (3) , Sima Rafati (1)

1 Institut Pasteur d'Iran
2 Khatam University
3 Research Centre in Infectious Diseases, CHUL Research Centre and Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine

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.

Keywords: DNA vaccination; Leishmania; Amastin; Cutaneous Leishmaniasis; Herpes simplex virus type1 VP22 (HSV-1 VP22) Green fluorescent protein (GFP)

Domains: Vaccinology

Azam Bolhassani, Elham Gholami, Farnaz Zahedifard, Neda Moradin, Parto Parsi, et al.. Leishmania major: Protective capacity of DNA vaccine using amastin fused to HSV-1 VP22 and EGFP in BALB/c mice model.. Experimental Parasitology, 2012, 128 (1), pp.9-17. ⟨10.1016/j.exppara.2011.01.012⟩. ⟨pasteur-00786634⟩