Table 3.
Immunotherapy and immunochemotherapy strategies against VL for humans and dogs.
| Immunotherapeutic agent | Chemotherapy agent | Visceral disease | Improvements | Treatment efficacy | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IFN-γ | SbV | Human | Accelerated parasitological control, enhanced the clinical efficacy of conventional SbV treatment, 83.2% cure rate | Marked | (109–111) |
| IFN-γ for 15 or 30 days (107 U/mg/day) | SbV (20 mg/kg/day) at 30 days | Human | No difference was observed in patients treated with SbV alone | Moderate | (112) |
| IFN-γ | SbV (20 mg/kg/day) at 30 days | Human | All patients responded clinically to treatment, more quickly splenic culture-negative | Moderate | (113) |
| Antigenic preparation of L. infantum (soluble antigen) | 100 mg/kg SC of N-methyl-d-glucamine antimoniate | Canine | Increase in the T lymphocytes, especially CD4/TcRαβ+ and CD4/CD45RA+ cells in PBMC; reduction of infection to Phlebotomus perniciosus | Low | (114) |
| Enriched-Leishmune® vaccine (plus 0.5 mg of saponin) | n.d. | Canine | Higher levels of anti-FML IgG (IgG2), positive delayed type hypersensitivity reaction, lower clinical scores | Moderate | (115, 116) |
| Enriched-Leishmune® vaccine (plus 0.5 mg of saponin) | Allopurinol (10 mg/kg) and amphotericin B (0.5 mg/kg) | Canine | Positive DTH reaction, reduction of symptomatic cases and low numbers of animals with parasites in lymph nodes and deaths | Marked | (117) |
| Vaccine composed by 20 μg of rLeish-110f® + 25 μg of MPL-SE® | 100 mg/kg/day IM of Glucantime® | Canine | Improvement in the clinical parameters (hematological, biochemical, cellular); reduction in parasitological positive animals (bone marrow smears or culture); reduced number of deaths; 33% xenodiagnosis negative of by PCR | Marked | (118) |
| Vaccine composed by 20 μg of Leish-111f® plus 20 μg of MPL-SE® | 20 mg/kg/day IV of Glucantime® | Canine | Cure rates 50%; 92% clinical improvement | Moderate | (119) |
| Immunomodulator P-MAPA (2.0 mg/kg) intramuscularly | n.d. | Canine | Increase CD8+ T cells, IL-2, and IFN-γ; decrease in IL-10 and improvement in clinical signs and reduction in parasite load in skin | Marked | (120) |
SC, subcutaneous; IM, intramuscular; IV, intravenous; n.d., not done.