• Vaccine Name: T. cruzi Vaccine TcVac2
• Target Pathogen: Trypanosoma cruzi
• Target Disease: Chagas disease
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Status: Research
• Host Species for Licensed Use: Human
• Antigen: TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 (Gupta and Garg, 2010) - T. cruzi encoding plasmids which have elicited a strong Th1 - type antibody response dominated by immunoglobin G2b (IgG2b)/IgG1 isotypes. (Bhatia and Garg, 2008)
• TcG4 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description:
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• G2 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description:
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• Adjuvant:
  • Adjuvant name:
  • VO adjuvant ID: VO_0001147
• Adjuvant:
  • Adjuvant name:
  • VO adjuvant ID: VO_0001294
• Immunization Route: Intramuscular injection (i.m.)
• Description: TcVAc2 is a DNA-prime/protein-boost subunit vaccine (TcVac2) constituted of candidate antigens (TcG1-, TcG2-, and TcG4) along with adjuvants IL-12 and GM-CSF.(Gupta and Garg, 2010)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: C57BL/6
• Host age: 6-8 weeks old
• Host gender: Female
• Vaccination Protocol: C57BL/6 mice were injected in the quadriceps muscle twice at three-week intervals with antigen-encoding plasmids and cytokine-encoding plasmids. Mice were then immunized with two doses of TcG1-, TcG2-, and TcG4- recombinant proteins (25 µg each, total 75 µg protein emulsified in 5 µg saponin/100 µl PBS/mouse, intra-dermal). (Gupta and Garg, 2010)
• Immune Response: We detected a substantial level of TcTL- and TcG1-, TcG2- and TcG4-specific IgG antibodies in mice immunized with TcVac2. The level of antigen-specific antibody response was detected in the order of TcG4>TcG2>TcG1; and the antigen-specific antibody response was predominantly of the Th1 type with IgG2b/IgG1 ratio>1. (Gupta and Garg, 2010)
• Challenge Protocol: Two weeks after the last immunization, mice were challenged with T. cruzi (10,000 trypomastigotes/mouse, i.p.).(Gupta and Garg, 2010)