RESUMO

The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) presents problems due to the toxicity and/or high cost of drugs. In addition, no vaccine exists to protect against human disease. In this study, the antigenicity and immunogenicity of amastin protein were evaluated in L. infantum-infected dogs and humans. For the diagnosis, besides the recombinant protein, 1 linear B-cell epitope was synthetized and evaluated in serological assays. Results showed high sensitivity and specificity values to detect the disease when both antigens were employed against a canine and human serological panel. By contrast, when using rA2 and a soluble Leishmania antigenic preparation, sensitivity and specificity values proved to be lower. A preliminary immunogenicity study showed that the amastin protein induced high IFN-γ and low IL-10 production in stimulated PBMC derived from treated VL patients and healthy subjects, thus suggesting a potential use of this protein as an immunogen to protect against human disease.

Assuntos

Antígenos de Protozoários/imunologia , Leishmania infantum/isolamento & purificação , Leishmaniose Visceral/diagnóstico , Leishmaniose Visceral/veterinária , Proteínas de Protozoários/imunologia , Animais , Anticorpos Antiprotozoários/sangue , Antígenos de Protozoários/química , Antígenos de Protozoários/genética , Células Cultivadas , Citocinas/metabolismo , Doenças do Cão/sangue , Doenças do Cão/diagnóstico , Doenças do Cão/parasitologia , Cães , Epitopos de Linfócito B/imunologia , Humanos , Imunogenicidade da Vacina , Leishmania infantum/imunologia , Leishmaniose Visceral/sangue , Leishmaniose Visceral/parasitologia , Leucócitos Mononucleares/imunologia , Proteínas de Protozoários/química , Proteínas de Protozoários/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/imunologia , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Testes Sorológicos