FIGURE 4.

LdCen^−/− immunization confers host protection by induction of Th17 cytokines. Five weeks postimmunized mice were challenged with virulent L. donovani parasites. At 2 and 6 wk postchallenge both immunized and nonimmunized mice were euthanized, and splenocytes were cultured and stimulated with Leishmania Ag. Culture supernatants were collected and concentrations of cytokines IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-6, IL-1p, IL-^−/−, IL-23p19, IL-27, IL-10 (A–H) were measured by the multiplex or single plex (IL-27) mouse cytokine ELISA kit as described in the Materials and Methods section. (I) At 2, 6, and 12 wk postchallenge (PC) parasite burden was measured in the spleen of immunized-challenged and nonimmunized-challenged animals by serial dilution. The data represent the mean values + SEM of results from two independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005.