• Vaccine Name: T. cruzi DNA prime/Protein-boost vaccine encoding TcG2 and TcG4
• Target Pathogen: Trypanosoma cruzi
• Target Disease: Chagas disease
• Type: Prime-boost vaccine with DNA vaccine priming
• Status: Research
• Host Species for Licensed Use: None
• Antigen: TcG2 and TcG4 (Gupta et al., 2015) - T. cruzi encoding plasmids which have elicited a strong Th1 - type antibody response dominated by immunoglobin G2b (IgG2b)/IgG1 isotypes. (Bhatia and Garg, 2008)
• G2 gene engineering:
  • Type: DNA vaccine construction
  • Description:
  • Detailed Gene Information: Click Here.
• TcG4 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: A DNA-prime/protein boost therapeutic vaccine encoding TcG2 and TcG4 aimed to determine if GPx1, an antioxidant, protects the heart form chagasic pathogenesis. (Gupta et al., 2015)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: C57BL/6
• Host age: 6-8 weeks old
• Vaccination Protocol: Mice were infected with T. cruzi (10,000 trypomastigotes per mouse, intraperitoneal). Forty-five days later, mice were immunized with the 1st vaccine dose consisting of the TcG2- and TcG4-encoding plasmids with IL-12- and GM-CSF-expression plasmids (25-μg each plasmid DNA/mouse, intramuscularly). Twenty one days after the primary immunization, mice were given 2nd vaccine dose constituted of recombinant proteins (TcG2 and TcG4, 25 μg of each protein emulsified in 5 μg saponin/100 μl PBS/mouse, intradermally). (Gupta et al., 2015)
• Immune Response: Myocardial degeneration with enlarged myocytes was particularly evident in chagasic WT mice. Therapeutic vaccination resulted in a substantial decline in myocardial and skeletal muscle levels of inflammatory infiltrate in chagasic WT mice. (Gupta et al., 2015)

Mouse Response

• Host Strain: GPxtg
• Host age: 6-8 weeks
• Immune Response: Chronically-infected GPxtg mice presented a lower level of inflammatory infiltrate in heart and skeletal muscle therefore the antioxidants aided in arresting the chronic infiltration of the inflmamatory infiltrate in the heart in chagasic mice. (Gupta et al., 2015)