In a murine model of experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis, researchers investigated the protection elicited by injection of histone H1 (SW3.1) isolated from parasites by perchloric extraction, of a H1 recombinant protein produced in E. coli, and of H1 long and short synthetic peptides, against infection by L. major. Partial protection was achieved in most of the animals as shown by reduction in lesion size, upon immunization with histone H1 or its peptides, provided that the region 1-60 was present in the molecule (Solioz et al., 1999).
