Reverse vaccinology or immunoinformatics is a computational methodology which integrates data from in silico epitope prediction, associated to other important information as, for example, the predicted subcellular location of the proteins used in the design of the context of vaccine development. This approach has the potential to search for new targets for vaccine development in the predicted proteome of pathog...
Schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitic disease that affects millions of people worldwide and is caused by helminth parasites from the genus Schistosoma. When caused by S. mansoni, it is associated with the development of a hepatosplenic disease caused by an intense immune response to the important antigenic contribution of adult worms and to the presence of eggs trapped in liver tissue. Although the importanc...
Due to an increase in the incidence of leishmaniases worldwide, the development of new strategies such as prophylactic vaccines to prevent infection and decrease the disease have become a high priority. Classic vaccines against leishmaniases were based on live or attenuated parasites or their subunits. Nevertheless, the use of whole parasite or their subunits for vaccine production has numerous disadvantages. T...
Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil; Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Departamento de Morfologia. Laboratório de Biologia das Interações Celulares. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas/NUPEB Laboratório de Imunopatologia. Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil; Uni...
Background: The development of a protective vaccine against canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is an alternative approach for interrupting the domestic cycle of Leishmania infantum. Given the importance of sand fly salivary proteins as potent immunogens obligatorily co-deposited during transmission of Leishmania parasites, their inclusion in an anti-Leishmania vaccine has been investigated in the last few deca...
Herein, we evaluated the treatment strategy employing a therapeutic heterologous vaccine composed of antigens of Leishmania braziliensis associated with MPL adjuvant (LBMPL vaccine) for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in symptomatic dogs naturally infected by Leishmania infantum. Sixteen dogs received immunotherapy with MPL adjuvant (n = 6) or with a vaccine composed of antigens of L. braziliensis associated with M...
Background: In past years, many researchers have sought canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) prevention through the characterization of Leishmania antigens as vaccine candidates. Despite these efforts, there is still no efficient vaccine for CVL control. Methods: In the present study, we performed a pre-clinical vaccine trial using BALB/c mice to compare the effects of the multicomponent LBSap vaccine with those...
Visceral leishmaniasis has a great impact on public health, and dogs are considered the maindomestic reservoir of Leishmania infantum, the causal parasite. In this study, 159 animalsnaturally infected by L. infantum from an endemic area of Brazil were evaluated through ananalysis of cellular responses, using flow cytometry, and of the hematological parameters.The results confirmed that disease progression is as...
Hematological analysis has limited applications for disease diagnosis in Leishmania infantum–infected dogs, but it can be very important in evaluating the clinical forms of the disease and in understanding the evolution of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) pathogenesis. Recently, we demonstrated that alterations in leucopoiesis and erythropoiesis are related to clinical status and bone marrow parasite density...
In the studies presented here, dogs were vaccinated against Leishmania (Leishmania) cha-gasi challenge infection using a preparation of Leishmania braziliensis promastigote proteinsand saponin as adjuvant (LBSap). Vaccination with LBSap induced a prominent type 1immune response that was characterized by increased levels of interleukin (IL-) 12 andinterferon gamma (IFN- _) production by peripheral blood mononucl...