Evaluation of the alum–naloxone adjuvant activity against experimental murine leishmaniasis due to L. major

Bozorgomid, A and Hazrati Tappeh, KH and Mohammadzadeh Hajipirloo, H and Karamati, S.A and Nazari, N and Shirooie, S (2016) Evaluation of the alum–naloxone adjuvant activity against experimental murine leishmaniasis due to L. major. Journal of Parasitic Diseases. pp. 1-7.

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Abstract

Leishmaniasis is caused by intracellular parasites of Leishmania species, which are transmitted by the bite of the sandfly. Recovery and protection against the infection depends on the induction of a strong Th1 type of immune response. Vaccination of mice with the opioid antagonist naloxone can promote the activation of the Th1 responses. We studied the efficacy of the mixture of naloxone and alum, as an adjuvant, to enhance immune responses and induce protection against Leishmania major infection in BALB/c as a susceptible mouse model. BALB/ c mice were immunized with Ag–naloxone–alum, Ag– alum, Ag–naloxone or PBS subcutaneously three times at 2-week intervals. The humoral and cellular specific immune responses were assessed 2 weeks after the last immunization and compared with the control mice. Our results indicated that the administration of alum–naloxone as an adjuvant increased the capability of L. major promastigote antigens to enhance lymphocyte proliferation, the levels of IFN-c, and the IFN-c/IL-5 ratio. The results of DTH showed that there were no significant differences in footpad swelling between the groups of immunized mice as compared with the non-vaccinated control group; however, no significant differences were observed in the survival rate among groups. It can be concluded that although immunization with the alum–naloxone mixture in combination with the autoclaved L. major promastigote antigens could enhance cellular immunity and shift the immune response to a Th1 pattern, it could not protect the mice against Leishmania major infection. Keywords Leishmania major Alum Naloxone Adjuvant Introduction Leishmaniasis is caused by intracellular parasites of Leishmania species, which are transmitted by the bite of the sandfly. This disease has a wide range of clinical symptoms from chronic cutaneous lesions to visceral leishmaniasis, which is fatal if left untreated (Singh and Sundar 2012). Currently, 350 million people in 88 countries are at risk of infection and 14 million people are infected (Nagill and Kaur 2011). Recovery and protection against the infection depends on the induction of a strong & Arezoo Bozorgomid

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