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Abstract
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Hydrophilic acylated surface protein B (HASPB) is an immunogenic Leishmania-specific protein that antibodies are
produced against it in the sera of Leishmania-infected individuals. Kinetoplastid membrane protein 11 (KMP11) is
another Leishmania antigen and considered as the suitable candidate for vaccine development Leishmaniasis. It is a
highly conserved surface protein expressed in both promastigotes and amastigotes. In this study, KMP11 and
HASPB coding sequences were cloned into a pCDH-cGFP lentiviral vector as a fusion protein to be used as a
DNA vaccine against L. major. The KMP11-HASPB fusion protein was successfully expressed as evidenced by RTPCR and Western blot assays. The effect of the vaccine was determined by evaluating the level of IFN-γ, IL-10,
IgG1, and IgG2a performed using ELISA as well as determining the parasite load after challenge with L. major in
vaccinated mice. The results revealed that IFN-γ, IL-10, IgG1, and IgG2a significantly increased after vaccination
using KMP11-HASPB-expressing lentiviruses in BALB/c mice. It is noteworthy that the level of IFN-γ and IgG2a
was higher than that of IL-10 and IgG1, respectively, which indicates the activation Th1 cells, macrophages, and
cellular immunity. Moreover, the parasite load in the spleen and lymph node of vaccinated mice after challenge was
significantly lower than that of controls
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