Novel Leishmania donovani protein potential vaccine antigen.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - An antigen, found in a large percentage of patients infected with Leishmania donovani, shows promise as a vaccine against the protozoan, according to a report in the journal Tropical Medicine and International Health.

"The recently cloned glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) of Leishmania donovani has been suggested as a new and promising Leishmania vaccine candidate," commented A.T. Jensen and collaborators at the University of Copenhagen. "We assessed antibody and T-cell reactivity to GRP78 in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and in lymphoproliferative assays."

The investigators collected plasma samples from patients in Sudan. The majority of patients infected with L. donovani had developed antibodies to the GRP78 antigen, including 89% with visceral leishmaniasis (VL), 78% with post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL), and 85% with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Healthy Sudanese from areas known to contain malaria but not leishmaniasis, and healthy Danes were used as controls. Their plasma was found free of GRP78 antibodies.

Reactivity to recombinant GRP78 (rGRP78) existed in 35% of healthy Sudanese who had a positive leishmanin skin test. However, plasma from 10% of Sudanese and 5% of Ghanaian malaria patients contained GRP78 antibodies (Humoral and cellular immune responses to glucose ...