Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

Intranasal Vaccination with Leishmanial Antigens Protects Golden Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) Against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis Infection

2015; Public Library of Science; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1371/journal.pntd.0003439

ISSN

1935-2735

Autores

Luzinei da Silva-Couto, Raquel Peralva Ribeiro‐Romão, A. Saavedra, Beatriz Lilian da Silva Costa Souza, Otacílio C. Moreira, Adriano Gomes-Silva, Bartira Rossi‐Bergmann, Alda Maria Da‐Cruz, Eduardo Fonseca Pinto,

Tópico(s)

Research on Leishmaniasis Studies

Resumo

Previous results have shown that oral and intranasal administration of particulate Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis antigens (LaAg) partially protects mice against L. amazonensis infection. However, vaccination studies on species of the subgenus Viannia, the main causative agent of cutaneous and mucosal leishmaniasis in the Americas, have been hampered by the lack of easy-to-handle bio-models that accurately mimic the human disease. Recently, we demonstrated that the golden hamster is an appropriate model for studying the immunopathogenesis of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. (Viannia) braziliensis. Using the golden hamster model, our current study investigated whether the protective effect of intranasal immunisation with LaAg can be extended to L. braziliensis infection.Golden hamsters vaccinated with either two intranasal (IN) doses of LaAg (10 µg) or two intramuscular doses of LaAg (20 µg) were challenged 2 weeks post-vaccination with L. braziliensis. The results showed that IN immunisation with LaAg significantly reduced lesion growth and parasitic load as well as serum IgG and IgG2 levels. At the experimental endpoint on day 114 post-infection, IN-immunised hamsters that were considered protected expressed IFN-γ and IL10 mRNA levels that returned to uninfected skin levels. In contrast to the nasal route, intramuscular (IM) immunisation failed to provide protection.These results demonstrate for the first time that the nasal route of immunisation can induce cross protection against L. braziliensis infection.

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