CTL responses to DCs stimulated with leishmania antigens detected by DCs expressing Leishmania gp63.

BACKGROUND Leishmania is a pathogenic parasite which infects mononuclear cells in vertebrate hosts. Different strategies have been taken to develop immunity against Leishmania. DCs loaded with immunogenic antigen have resulted in different levels of Th1-type immune response and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) activity. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the potency of DCs primed with soluble Leishmania mexicana antigens (SLA) in developing CTL activity. METHODS DCs were loaded with SLA and injected to Balb/c mice. After two weeks the mice were sacrificed and their splenocytes were used as effector cells in a standard 4-hour cytotoxicity assay against DCs transfected with pcDNA3 containing L. mexicana gp63 gene. RESULTS Immunization of Balb/c mice with DCs loaded with SLA resulted in high levels of CTL activity against DCs transfected with pcDNA3 containing L. mexicana gp63 gene. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate a high potency for DCs primed with Leishmania antigens in inducing CTL activity, which can be used for developing an immunogenic vaccine against Leishmania.