Immunoliposomes containing Soluble Leishmania Antigens (SLA) as a novel antigen delivery system in murine model of leishmaniasis Faeze Eskandari a , Ghazal Alipour Talesh a , Maryam Parooie a , Mahmoud Reza Jaafari b,1 , Ali Khamesipour c , Zahra Saberi a , Azam Abbasi a , Ali Badiee a, * ,1 a Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran b Biotechnology Research Center, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran c Center for Research and Training in Skin Diseases and Leprosy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran H I G H L I G H T S • Development of new generation of vaccines against leishmaniasis requires adjuvants. • Immunoliposome as an adjuvant was prepared by grafting IgG onto liposomal surface. • Immunoliposome induced stronger cell mediated immunity compared with liposome. G R A P H I CA L A B ST R AC T ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 9 November 2013 Received in revised form 9 June 2014 Accepted 26 August 2014 Available online 20 September 2014 Keywords: Vaccine Immunoliposomes SLA Leishmaniasis A B ST R AC T Development of new generation of vaccines against leishmaniasis requires adjuvants to elicit the type and intensity of immune response needed for protection. The coupling of target-specific antibodies to the liposomal surface to create immunoliposomes has appeared as a promising way in achieving a li- posome active targeting. In this study, immunoliposomes were prepared by grafting non-immune mouse IgG onto the liposomal surface. The influence of active targeted immunoliposomes on the type and in- tensity of generated immune response against Leishmania was then investigated and compared with that of liposomes and control groups which received either SLA or HEPES buffer alone. All formulations con- tained SLA and were used to immunize the mice in the left hind footpad three times in 3-week intervals. Evaluation of lesion development and parasite burden in the foot and spleen after challenge with Leish- mania major, evaluation of Th1 cytokine (IFN-γ), and titration of IgG isotypes were carried out to assess the type of generated immune response and the extent of protection. The results indicated that lipo- somes might be effective adjuvant systems to induce protection against L. major challenge in BALB/c mice, but stronger cell mediated immune responses were induced when immunoliposomes were utilized. Thus, immune modulation using immunoliposomes might be a practical approach to improve the immuniza- tion against L. major. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Fax: +98 511 8823251. E-mail address: badieea@mums.ac.ir (A. Badiee). 1 A.B. and M.R.J. equally designed this research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exppara.2014.08.016 0014-4894/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Experimental Parasitology 146 (2014) 78–86 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Experimental Parasitology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yexpr