Figure 5.

Immunotherapy with F3-primed dendritic cells (DCs) reduces parasite and clinical signs of visceral leishmaniasis. DCs (10⁶) purified from Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi-infected mice, or mice treated with the F3 or the NH36 vaccines and challenged, were injected into infected mice on day 28 after infection. Recipient mice were euthanized after 7 days after DC transfer and the variation in corporal weight (A), spleen LDU (B), spleen/body relative weight (C), liver LDU (D), and liver/body relative weight (E) were calculated. As a control we also showed the increase of the parasite load of spleens and livers of day 28-infected mice that received an injection of F3-primed DCs pre-incubated with anti-CCR7 antibody (F). The results are compared with the parasite load of infected mice that received F3-primed DCs with no previous incubation. Bars represent the mean + SE values of two-independent experiments (n = 5 mice per treatment in each experiment). Asterisks and horizontal lines show significant differences between treatments as disclosed by Mann–Whitney non-parametrical test.