Therapeutic Enhancement of Protective Immunity during Experimental Leishmaniasis
Figure 5
Addition of rIL-2/DTx to antibiotic therapy allows for treatment duration reduction in experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis.
C57BL/6 mice were infected as in Figure 2. (A and B) lesion size. Beginning 30 d after infection, mice were treated as follows: (1) SSG 250 mg/kg daily for 10 d [black circles]; (2) SSG 25 mg/kg daily for 10 d [blue circles]; (3) SSG 250 mg/kg daily for 5 d [red circles]; (4) SSG 250 mg/kg daily for 10 d+rIL-2/DTx 50 µg/kg 3 times at 5 d intervals [black squares]; (5) SSG 25 mg/kg daily for 10 d+rIL-2/DTx 50 µg/kg 3 times at 5 d intervals [blue squares]; (6) SSG 250 mg/kg daily for 5 d+rIL-2/DTx 50 µg/kg 3 times at 5 d intervals [red squares]; (7) normal saline (per route and schedule for 10 d SSG plus 3 doses of rIL-2/DTx) [open circles]. Note, while regimens are separated into 2 panels for ease of visibility, the control (saline) group in both panels is one and the same. (A and B) MANOVA P<0.0004; ANOVA P<0.001; Tukey's correction; *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. Linear random effects modeling, done in a second order of analysis, rejected the null hypothesis of all treatments having equal effects (P<0.001), and sorted the therapeutic efficacy of the regimens as follows, from best to worst: groups 4 and 6; groups 1, 3 and 5; groups 2 and 7. (C) Lesional parasite burden quantified in the indicated groups, 45 d after infection. ANOVA P<0.001; Tukey's correction; *P<0.05. Data represent means +/− SE of 5–6 mice/group in a single experiment (with individual data points shown for parasite burden).