查看文章

In visceral leishmaniasis, Th1 types of immune responses correlate with recovery from and resistance to disease, and resolution of infection results in lifelong immunity against the disease. Leishmanial Ags that elicit proliferative and cytokine responses in PBMCs from cured/exposed/Leishmania patients have been characterized through proteomic approaches, and elongation factor-2 is identified as one of the potent immunostimulatory proteins. In this study, we report the cloning and expression of Leishmania donovani elongation factor-2 protein (LelF-2) and its immunogenicity in PBMCs of cured/exposed Leishmania-infected patients and hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Leishmania-infected cured/exposed patients and hamsters exhibited significantly higher proliferative responses to recombinant Lelf-2 (rLelF-2) than those with L. donovani-infected hosts. The soluble L. donovani Ag stimulated PBMCs of cured …