Figure 4.
The effect of interleukin-12 (IL-12) gene transfer on progression of leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice. (a) Footpad swelling measurements represent the mean ± SD values of eight mice. BALB/c mice were treated with IL-12 or a control gene four times at 0, 1, 2 and 3 weeks after infection with 5 × 106 Leishmania major promastigotes. As a resistant strain, C57BL/6 mice were infected with the same doses of L. major. (b) Parasite burdens from IL-12 gene-treated BALB/c mice. After 5 weeks of infection, four animals (representative of each group) were killed and parasite density was quantified by enumerating the number of parasites in the lymph nodes (LN). *Signifies a statistically significant difference (P < 0·05) between the group treated with pCAGGS (Control) and that treated with pCAGGS-IL-12 (IL-12). Results are representative of two independent experiments.