• Vaccine Name: T. cruzi Tsf-ISPA vaccine
• Target Pathogen: Trypanosoma cruzi
• Target Disease: Chagas disease
• Type: Subunit vaccine
• Status: Licensed
• Host Species for Licensed Use: Human
• Antigen: TsF (trans-sialidase) - In previous studies, a trans-sialidase based vaccine was able to confer protection against a virulent T.cruzi strain, stimulating the effector immune response and decreasing C11b+ GR-1 splenocytes significantly.
• trans-sialidase(TsF) from Trypanosoma cruzi gene engineering:
  • Type: Recombinant protein preparation
  • Description:
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• Immunization Route: subcutaneous injection
• Description: A T. cruzi subunit trans-sialidase (TSf - ISPA) based vaccine which aims to target MDSCs (myeloid derived suppressor cells)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: BALB/c
• Host age: 6-8 weeks old
• Host gender: Female
• Vaccination Protocol: BALB/ mice were immunized with three subcutaneous doses, one every two weeks, containing 10ug of a fraction of the trans-sialidase protein (TSf) with 3 ul of ISPA as adjuvant. Control groups were immunized with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution, following the same protocol.(Gamba et al., 2021)
• Immune Response: PBS-treated mice do not tolerate a challenge with 900 Tulahuen T. cruzi parasites if MDSCs are depleted by 5FU treatment at day 15 p.i. In contrast, a proportion of TSf-ISPA-immunized and infected mice tolerated and survived infection allowing the in vivo study of the influence of MDSCs on several components of the effector and regulatory immune response during the acute phase of T. cruzi infection. TSf-ISPA immunization causes a slight but significant increase of CD11b+ GR-1+ splenocytes, here we also targeted those cells at the stage of immunization, prior to T. cruzi challenge. Notably, 5FU administration before each dose of TSf-ISPA vaccine was able to significantly ameliorate survival and decrease parasitemia levels of TSf-ISPA-vaccinated and infected mice.(Gamba et al., 2021)
• Challenge Protocol: Mice were challenged intraperitoneally with 900 or 1500 bloodstream trypomastigotes of Tulahuen strain, as indicated, 15 days after the last immunization.(Gamba et al., 2021)