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Germanó MJ, Mackern-Oberti JP, Vitório JG, Duarte MC, Pimenta DC, Sanchez MV, Bruna FA, Lozano ES, Fernandes AP, Cargnelutti DE. Identification of Immunodominant Antigens From a First-Generation Vaccine Against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis. Front Immunol 2022; 13:825007. [PMID: 35634280 PMCID: PMC9133320 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.825007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by parasites belonging to the Leishmania genus for which there is no vaccine available for human use. Thus, the aims of this study are to evaluate the immunoprotective effect of a first-generation vaccine against L. amazonensis and to identify its immunodominant antigens. BALB/c mice were inoculated with phosphate buffer sodium (PBS), total L. amazonensis antigens (TLAs), or TLA with Poly (I:C) and Montanide ISA 763. The humoral and cellular immune response was evaluated before infection. IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a were measured on serum, and IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-10 cytokines as well as cell proliferation were measured on a splenocyte culture from vaccinated mice. Immunized mice were challenged with 104 infective parasites of L. amazonensis on the footpad. After infection, the protection provided by the vaccine was analyzed by measuring lesion size, splenic index, and parasite load on the footpad and spleen. To identify immunodominant antigens, total proteins of L. amazonensis were separated on 2D electrophoresis gel and transferred to a membrane that was incubated with serum from immunoprotected mice. The antigens recognized by the serum were analyzed through a mass spectrometric assay (LC-MS/MS-IT-TOF) to identify their protein sequence, which was subjected to bioinformatic analysis. The first-generation vaccine induced higher levels of antibodies, cytokines, and cell proliferation than the controls after the second dose. Mice vaccinated with TLA + Poly (I:C) + Montanide ISA 763 showed less footpad swelling, a lower splenic index, and a lower parasite load than the control groups (PBS and TLA). Four immunodominant proteins were identified by mass spectrometry: cytosolic tryparedoxin peroxidase, an uncharacterized protein, a kinetoplast-associated protein-like protein, and a putative heat-shock protein DNAJ. The identified proteins showed high levels of conserved sequence among species belonging to the Leishmania genus and the Trypanosomatidae family. These proteins also proved to be phylogenetically divergent to human and canine proteins. TLA + Poly (I:C) + Montanide ISA 763 could be used as a first-generation vaccine against leishmaniasis. The four proteins identified from the whole-protein vaccine could be good antigen candidates to develop a new-generation vaccine against leishmaniasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- María José Germanó
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Juan Pablo Mackern-Oberti
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Jessica Gardone Vitório
- Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Mariana Costa Duarte
- Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Maria Victoria Sanchez
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Flavia Alejandra Bruna
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Esteban Sebastián Lozano
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Ana Paula Fernandes
- Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Diego Esteban Cargnelutti
- Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo (IMBECU), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
- *Correspondence: Diego Esteban Cargnelutti,
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Cecílio P, Pérez-Cabezas B, Fernández L, Moreno J, Carrillo E, Requena JM, Fichera E, Reed SG, Coler RN, Kamhawi S, Oliveira F, Valenzuela JG, Gradoni L, Glueck R, Gupta G, Cordeiro-da-Silva A. Pre-clinical antigenicity studies of an innovative multivalent vaccine for human visceral leishmaniasis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017; 11:e0005951. [PMID: 29176865 PMCID: PMC5720812 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2017] [Revised: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The notion that previous infection by Leishmania spp. in endemic areas leads to robust anti-Leishmania immunity, supports vaccination as a potentially effective approach to prevent disease development. Nevertheless, to date there is no vaccine available for human leishmaniasis. We optimized and assessed in vivo the safety and immunogenicity of an innovative vaccine candidate against human visceral leishmaniasis (VL), consisting of Virus-Like Particles (VLP) loaded with three different recombinant proteins (LJL143 from Lutzomyia longipalpis saliva as the vector-derived (VD) component, and KMP11 and LeishF3+, as parasite-derived (PD) antigens) and adjuvanted with GLA-SE, a TLR4 agonist. No apparent adverse reactions were observed during the experimental time-frame, which together with the normal hematological parameters detected seems to point to the safety of the formulation. Furthermore, measurements of antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses, generally higher in immunized versus control groups, confirmed the immunogenicity of the vaccine formulation. Interestingly, the immune responses against the VD protein were reproducibly more robust than those elicited against leishmanial antigens, and were apparently not caused by immunodominance of the VD antigen. Remarkably, priming with the VD protein alone and boosting with the complete vaccine candidate contributed towards an increase of the immune responses to the PD antigens, assessed in the form of increased ex vivo CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation against both the PD antigens and total Leishmania antigen (TLA). Overall, our immunogenicity data indicate that this innovative vaccine formulation represents a promising anti-Leishmania vaccine whose efficacy deserves to be tested in the context of the "natural infection".
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Cecílio
- Parasite Disease group, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- IBMC—Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Begoña Pérez-Cabezas
- Parasite Disease group, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- IBMC—Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Laura Fernández
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Moreno
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Eugenia Carrillo
- WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - José M. Requena
- Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Epifanio Fichera
- Etna Biotech S.R.L, via Vincenzo Lancia, 57—Zona Industriale Blocco Palma 1, Catania, Italy
| | - Steven G. Reed
- Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), Seattle, WA, United States of America
| | - Rhea N. Coler
- Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), Seattle, WA, United States of America
| | - Shaden Kamhawi
- Vector Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, NIAID, NIH, Rockville, MD, United States of America
| | - Fabiano Oliveira
- Vector Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, NIAID, NIH, Rockville, MD, United States of America
| | - Jesus G. Valenzuela
- Vector Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, NIAID, NIH, Rockville, MD, United States of America
| | - Luigi Gradoni
- Unit of Vector-borne Diseases and International Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Reinhard Glueck
- Etna Biotech S.R.L, via Vincenzo Lancia, 57—Zona Industriale Blocco Palma 1, Catania, Italy
| | - Gaurav Gupta
- Etna Biotech S.R.L, via Vincenzo Lancia, 57—Zona Industriale Blocco Palma 1, Catania, Italy
| | - Anabela Cordeiro-da-Silva
- Parasite Disease group, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- IBMC—Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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