Background: Different methods have been used for BCG vaccination. Alginate microspheres are useful in delivery of vaccines to the gastrointestinal tract by oral route. Objective: To compare the immune response following oral microencapsulated and subcutaneous (SC) route administration of BCG vaccine in BALB/c mice. Methods: Alginate microspheres were produced by an internal emulsification metho...

Respiratory tract infections result in wheezing in a subset of patients. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common etiologic agent of acute respiratory infection in children and adults that has been associated with wheezing in 20-40% of individuals. The current study was undertaken to elucidate the host-dependent pulmonary and immunologic response to M. pneumoniae respiratory infection by studying mice...

Regression of autochthonous (primary) murine sarcoma virus (Moloney) (MSV)-induced tumors was first detectable in 13% of BALB/c mice inoculated with MSV at 3 weeks of age and increased in incidence thereafter. This correlated with the ability to resist transplanted BALB/c Moloney sarcoma (MS) cells. Treatment of young BALB/c mice bearing palpable primary tumors with spleen cells or with serum f...

Background: Leishmaniasis is a complex disease which presents as visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous forms. The current treatment options for this infection are very limited and the immunological state of the host appears to play an important role in the efficacy of the treatment. Immunostimulation through immune response activating agents such as Imiquimod is another rational approach for th...

Background: Several adjuvants have been evaluated for vaccine formulations but alu-minum salts will continue to be used for many years due to their safety, low cost and adjuvanticity with different antigens. Two commonly used aluminum adjuvants, alumi-num hydroxide and aluminum phosphate have different adjuvanticity properties. Com-mercial recombinant protein hepatitis B vaccines containing alu...

Background: Most cancer cells become resistant to anti-cancer agents. In the last few years, a new approach for targeted therapy of human cancer has been developed using immunotoxins which comprise both the cell targeting and the cell killing moieties. Methods: In the present study, the recombinant Shiga toxin A1 subunit fused to human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (A1-GM-CSF...