Protective immunity against Leishmania major is provided by s.c. immunization with a low dose of L. major promastigotes or with dihydrofolate-thymidylate synthase gene locus (DHFR-TS) gene knockout L. major organisms. Whether these vaccine strategies will protect against infection with other Leishmania species that elicit distinct immune responses and clinical syndromes is not known. Therefore,...

The threat from unpredictable influenza virus pandemics necessitates the development of a new type of influenza vaccine. Since the internal proteins are highly conserved, induction of T cells targeting these antigens may provide the solution. Indeed, adenoviral (Ad) vectors expressing flu nucleoprotein have previously been found to induce short-term protection in mice. In this study we confirm ...

Combinations of different delivery routes for priming and boosting represent vaccination strategies that can modulate magnitude, quality, and localization of the immune response. A murine model was used to study T cell clonal expansion following intranasal (IN) or subcutaneous (SC) priming, and secondary immune responses after boosting by either homologous or heterologous routes. T cell primary...

Dendritic cells present microbial antigens to T cells after uptake of apoptotic vesicles from infected cells. We previously reported that immunizations with apoptotic HIV-1/murine leukemia virus (MuLV) infected cells lead to induction of both cellular and humoral immune responses as well as resistance to mucosal challenge with live HIV-1/MuLV infected cells. Here we extended those studies and i...

This study evaluated the in vivo adjuvant activity of two peptides derived from Clostridium difficile: a fragment of the receptor-binding domain of toxin A (TxA(C314)) and a fragment of the 36 kDa surface-layer protein (SLP-36kDa) from strain C253. Their ability to affect the magnitude, distribution and polarization of the immune response against fibronectin-binding protein A (FnbpA), a protect...

Triphasic sustained release of tachyzoite chimeric protein, rSAG1/2, from poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG)-encapsulated rSAG1/2 (PLG-rSAG1/2) microparticles (MPs) is a promising characteristic for developing a single-dose vaccine against Toxoplasma gondii in domestic animals. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate whether single immunization with PLG-rSAG1/2 MPs in BALB/c mice would achieve...

A new protocol is described for immunization of outbred Swiss mice. The procedure is based on subcutaneous implantation of antigen-coupled polyester-polyurethane sponges cut into disks of 10 mm in diameter vs 2 mm in thickness. Antigen coupling was performed by overnight incubation of the sponge with a solution of ovalbumin (Ova) (2 mg/ml) diluted in sodium carbonate buffer, pH 9.6. The amount ...

To generate a useful strategy for mucosal immunization, we have developed an approach of lipidating a multiple Ag peptide (MAP) containing part of the V3 loop from HIV-1 gp120IIIB. In this work, we compare two delivery systems, lipidated MAP in PBS and encapsulation in poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) microparticles. Subcutaneous immunization, followed by intragastric administration of MAP peptide...

Nasal mucosal immunization is very attractive for vaccination to prevent various bacterial and viral infectious diseases because of induction of systemic and mucosal immune responses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of changing the immunization procedure of diphtheria toxoid (DT) from intramuscular or subcutaneous injection to intranasal administration. Intranasa...

The BALB/c Meth A sarcoma carries a p53 missense mutation at codon 234, which occurs in a peptide, termed 234CM, capable of being presented to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) by H-2Kd molecules (Noguchi, Y., E.C. Richards, Y.-T. Chen, and L.J. Old. 1994. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 91:3171-3175). Immunization of BALB/c mice with bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DC), generated in the presence ...