HETEROLOGOUS CHIMERIC IMMUNOGEN COMPRISING A Trypanosoma cruzi ANTIGEN AND A MUTANT NON-TOXIC BACTERIAL SUPERANTIGEN ELICITS STRONG AND EFFICIENT IMMUNE RESPONSE WHICH PROTECTS AGAINST PARASITIC CHALLENGE

ANTONOGLOU, MARÍA BELÉN; NOLI TRUANT, SOFÍA; IANNANTUONO LÓPEZ, LAURA; SÁNCHEZ ALBERTI, ANDRÉS; SARRATEA MARÍA BELÉN; FERNÁNDEZ, MARISA MARIEL; BIVONA, AUGUSTO; REDOLFI DANIELA; MALCHIODI, EMILIO LUIS

Ciudad de Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta SAIC SAI SAFIS 2018; 2018

In search of new strategies for vaccines against Chagas disease, we hypothesize that changing the way antigens are presented and processed is essential to confer protection against parasitic challenge. To this effect, we developed a chimera comprising a T. cruzi antigen and a mutant non-toxic superantigen (CruziSAg) and evaluated its capacity to elicit effective immune responses and protection against challenge. CruziSAg was genetically engineered and produced as recombinant protein. C3H mice were immunized with: I- CruziSAg+ODN-CpG by intramuscular route; II- an attenuated bacterial vector delivering the CruziSAg gene by oral route; III- a priming with II and boosting with I; IV- control with empty vector. We had previously described significant humoral responses evoked after immunization in groups I and III, with Th1-bias.Here, specific cell-mediated immunity was assessed by in-vivo DTH and ex-vivo proliferation of spleen cells: in both cases, groups II (p