Protective vaccination with promastigote surface antigen 2 from Leishmania major is mediated by a TH1 type of immune response.

Leishmania major promastigote surface antigen-2 complex (PSA-2) comprises a family of three similar but distinct polypeptides. The three PSA-2 polypeptides were purified from cultured promastigotes by a combination of detergent phase separation and monoclonal antibody affinity chromatography. Intraperitoneal vaccination of C3H/He mice with PSA-2 with Corynebacterium parvum as an adjuvant resulted in complete protection from lesion development after challenge infection with virulent L. major. Significant protection was also obtained in the genetically susceptible BALB/cH-2k and BALB/c mice. One of the PSA-2 genes was cloned and expressed in both Escherichia coli and Leishmania mexicana promastigotes. Vaccination with the recombinant PSA-2 purified from E. coli did not confer protection, in contrast to the L. mexicana-derived recombinant PSA-2, which provided excellent protection. CD4+ T cells isolated from the spleens of vaccinated mice produced large amounts of gamma interferon but no detectable interleukin 4 upon stimulation with PSA-2 in vitro. Limiting dilution analysis showed a marked increase in the precursor frequency of PSA-2-specific gamma interferon-secreting CD4+ T cells. No substantial change in precursor frequency was observed for interleukin 4-secreting T cells in the vaccinated mice. A CD4+ PSA-2 specific T-cell line generated from splenocytes of a vaccinated mouse produces a cytokine pattern consistent with a TH1 phenotype. Intravenous injection of this line into naive mice reduced significantly the parasite burden upon challenge infection. Taken together, the data suggest that vaccination with PSA-2 induces a TH1 type of immune response which protects mice from L. major infection. Moreover, a single recombinant PSA-2 polypeptide derived from a genomic clone can also vaccinate, provided that the structural form of the antigen is near native.