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1: Vaccine. 2006 May 29;24(22):4863-73. Epub 2006 Mar 20.
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Immunotherapy against visceral leishmaniasis with the nucleoside hydrolase-DNA vaccine of Leishmania donovani.

Gamboa-León R, Paraguai de Souza E, Borja-Cabrera GP, Santos FN, Myashiro LM, Pinheiro RO, Dumonteil E, Palatnik-de-Sousa CB.

Instituto de Microbiologia, Prof. Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, CCS, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Caixa Postal 68040, CEP 21941-590, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

The nucleoside hydrolase (NH36) of Leishmania (L.) donovani is a vital enzyme which releases purines or pyrimidines of foreign DNA to be used in the synthesis of parasite DNA. As a bivalent DNA vaccine, the VR1012-NH36 was immunoprotective against visceral and cutaneous murine leishmaniasis. In this work we tested the immunotherapy against Leishmania (L.) chagasi infection, using two doses of 100 or 20 microg VR1012-NH36 vaccine (i.m. route), and, as a possible immunomodulator, aqueous garlic extract (8 mg/kg/day by the i.p. route), which was effective in immunotherapy of cutaneous murine leishmaniasis. Liver parasitic load was significantly reduced following treatment with 100 microg (91%) and 20 microg (77%) of the DNA vaccine, and by 20 microg DNA vaccine and garlic extract (76%) (p=0.023). Survival was 33% for saline controls, 100% for the 100 microg vaccine, and 83 and 67% for the 20 microg vaccine with and without garlic extract addition, respectively. Garlic treatment alone did not reduce parasite load (p>0.05), but increased survival (100%). The NH36-DNA vaccine was highly effective as a new tool for the therapy and control of visceral leishmaniasis, while the mild protective effect of garlic might be related to an unspecific enhancement of IFN-gamma secretion.

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PMID: 16635538 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]