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BIBTEX RIS

Intranasal immunization with chitosan microparticles enhances LACK-DNA vaccine protection and induces specific long-lasting immunity against visceral leishmaniasis

2021; Elsevier BV; Volume: 24; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.micinf.2021.104884

1769-714X

Daniel Cláudio Oliveira Gomes, Beatriz Lilian da Silva Costa Souza, Rodrigo Porto Schwedersky, Luciana Polaco Covre, Herbert Leonel de Matos Guedes, Ulisses Gazos Lopes, Maria Inês Ré, Bartira Rossi‐Bergmann,

Animal health and immunology

Development of a protective vaccine against Leishmania depends on antigen formulation and adjuvants that induce specific immunity and long-lasting immune responses. We previously demonstrated that BALB/c mice intranasally vaccinated with a plasmid DNA encoding the p36/LACK leishmanial antigen (LACK-DNA) develop a protective immunity for up to 3 months after vaccination, which was linked with the systemic expression of vaccine mRNA in peripheral organs. In this study, LACK-DNA vaccine was associated with biocompatible chitosan microparticles cross-linked with glyceraldehyde (CMC) to boost the long-lasting immunity against the late Leishmania infantum challenge. Infection at 7 days, 3 or 6 months after vaccination resulted in significantly lower parasite loads when compared with non-vaccinated controls. Besides, LACK-DNA-chitosan vaccinated mice showed long-time protection observed after the late time point challenge. The achieved protection was correlated with an enhanced spleen cell responsiveness to parasite antigens, marked by increased proliferation and IFN-γ as well as decreased IL-10 production. Moreover, we found diminished systemic levels of TNF-α that was compatible with the better health condition observed in LACK-DNA/CMC vaccinated-infected mice. Together, our data indicate the feasibility of chitosan microparticles as a delivery system tool to extend the protective immunity conferred by LACK-DNA vaccine, which may be explored in vaccine formulations against Leishmania parasite infections.