Combined Immune Therapy for the Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis
Fig 6
The effects of different immune and drug therapy combinations.
L. donovani-infected mice (low-dose challenge with 5 x 106 parasites) were treated either with control Ab, anti-GITR mAb, anti-IL-10R mAb or both mAbs with (black bars) or without (open bars) a sub-optimal dose of sodium stibogluconate (Sbv). A group receiving a full dose of Sbv was also included. Infected mice were treated with anti-GITR mAb on day 14 p.i., and anti-IL-10R mAb on days 14, 19 and 24 p.i., with or without drug, as indicated. Rat IgG was used as a control. Liver parasite burdens were measured at day 28 p.i. (A). Spleen cells were also isolated at this time and cultured with parasite antigen for 24 hours before measuring levels of IFNγ (B), TNF(C) and IL-10 (D) in culture supernatants. Data are represented as the mean +/- SEM, and statistical differences of p < 0.05 (*), p < 0.01 (**) and p < 0.001 (***) are indicated (n = 6 mice per group, one independent experiment from 1–3 independent experiments).