Fig. 6.

Nitrite and IFN-γ stimulation by MPs from chagasic mice (±anti-Tc vaccine). Mice were vaccinated with TcG2/TcG4 candidate antigens, delivered as DNA-prime/protein-boost vaccine (Materials and Methods). Two weeks after the last immunization, they were infected with Tc. MPs were harvested from the plasma of nonvaccinated/infected and vaccinated/infected mice 120 days after infection. MPs harvested from plasma of nonvaccinated/noninfected (normal) mice were used as controls. RAW264.7 mφs were incubated in triplicate for 48 h with MPs. Supernatants were utilized for measuring the nitrate/nitrite levels by Griess reagent assay (a) and measuring IFN-γ levels by ELISA (b). Data are plotted as mean value ± SEM (n = 5 mice/group/experiment, 2 experiments), and significance is presented as ** p < 0.01 (nonvaccinated/infected vs. normal controls) and ^#p < 0.05 (nonvaccinated/infected vs. vaccinated/infected).