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Comparative Assessment of Induced Immune Responses Following Intramuscular Immunization with Fusion and Cocktail of LeIF, LACK and TSA Genes Against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in BALB/c Mice

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Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis Aims and scope

Abstract

In the present study, we evaluated induced immune responses following DNA vaccine containing cocktail or fusion of LeIF, LACK and TSA genes or each gene alone. Mice were injected with 100 µg of each plasmid containing the gene of insert, plasmid DNA alone as the first control group or phosphate buffer saline as the second control group. Then, cellular and humoral responses, lesion size were measured for all groups. All vaccinated mice induced Th1 immune responses against Leishmania characterized by higher IFN-γ and IgG2a levels compared with control groups (p < 0.05). In addition, IFN-γ levels increased in groups immunized with fusion and cocktail vaccines in comparison with LACK (p < 0.001) and LeIF (p < 0.01) groups after challenge. In addition, fusion and cocktail groups produced higher IgG2a values than groups vaccinated with a gene alone (p < 0.05). Lesion progression delayed for all immunized groups compared with control groups from 5th week post-infection (p < 0.05). Mean lesion size decreased in immunized mice with fusion DNA than three groups vaccinated with one gene alone (p < 0.05). While, lesion size decreased significantly in cocktail recipient group than LeIF recipient group (p < 0.05). There was no difference in lesion size between fusion and cocktail groups. Overall, immunized mice with cocktail and fusion vaccines showed stronger Th1 response by production of higher IFN-γ and IgG2a and showed smaller mean lesion size. Therefore, use of multiple antigens can improve induced immune responses by DNA vaccination.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, and Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P. O. Box 14115-331, Tehran, Iran

    Nahid Maspi, Fatemeh Ghaffarifar, Abdolhossein Dalimi & Mohammad Saaid Dayer

  2. Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran

    Nahid Maspi

  3. Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran

    Zohreh Sharifi

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  1. Nahid Maspi
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  2. Fatemeh Ghaffarifar
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  4. Abdolhossein Dalimi
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  5. Mohammad Saaid Dayer
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Correspondence to Fatemeh Ghaffarifar.

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Ethical consideration

All procedures including maintenance, animal handling and blood sample collection were approved by Medical Ethics Committee of Tarbiat Modares University of Iran (ID: 52/5101 dated March 16, 2013).

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Maspi, N., Ghaffarifar, F., Sharifi, Z. et al. Comparative Assessment of Induced Immune Responses Following Intramuscular Immunization with Fusion and Cocktail of LeIF, LACK and TSA Genes Against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in BALB/c Mice. Arch. Immunol. Ther. Exp. 66, 55–64 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-017-0484-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-017-0484-4

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