Figure 7.

Cytokine levels in sera of rBmSP44 immunized or mice after infection of B. microti. BALB/c mice of the BmSP44 vaccinated or adjuvant treated control groups were followed by a challenge with 1 × 10⁷ erythrocytes infected with B. microti and the samples were taken on Day 3, 6, and 9 p.i. (A) The concentrations of IFN-γ in sera were 45.4, 60.5, and 40.0 pg/ml in Adjuvant-vaccinated control group (n = 5) and 52.3, 231.9, and 43.5 pg/ml in rBmSP44 vaccinated group (n = 5), respectively. Results are presented as the mean ± SEM. The asterisks (*) indicate that the levels of IFN-γ by immunized mice was significantly higher (***P < 0.001) than those of the adjuvant control group. (B) The concentrations of IL-10 in sera were 53.9, 101.5, and 28.8 pg/ml in Adjuvant-vaccinated control group (n = 5) and 64.4, 193.2, and 40.9 pg/ml in rBmSP44 vaccinated group (n = 5), respectively. Results are presented as the mean ± SEM. The asterisks (*) indicate that the levels of IL-10 by immunized mice were significantly higher (*P < 0.05) than those of the adjuvant control group. (C) The concentrations of TNF-α in sera were 57.2, 51.9, and 57.9 pg/ml in Adjuvant-vaccinated control group (n = 5) and 60.3, 62.3, and 68.5 pg/ml in rBmSP44 vaccinated group (n = 5), respectively. Results are presented as the mean ± SEM. The data represent two individual experiments. All the levels of cytokine in sera were measured by ELISA kits.