Leishmania is a parasitic protozoa that causes leishmaniasis in human and animals. The diseases are largely zoonotic, often involve dogs as a reservoir host in their epidemiologies. As a possible candidate of a live vaccine to control the diseases in dogs, Leishmania expressing biologically active canine interleukin-8 (cIL-8) was produced. The coding sequence of cIL-8 was introduced into Leishmania promastigotes by electrotransfection using the parasite-specific expression vector (p6.5). The expression of cIL-8 molecule in the plasmid-transfected Leishmania (transfectants) was confirmed by Western blotting using anti-cIL8 monoclonal antibody. The culture supernatant of the transfectants showed a chemotactic activity with dog and mouse polymorphonuclear cells.
(Lab. of Protozoan Diseases, Department of Bacteriology and Parasitology)
