Protection against cutaneous leishmaniasis induced by recombinant antigensin murine and nonhuman primate models of the human disease

Leishmaniasis affects approximately 2 million people each year throughout t he world. This high incidence is due in part to the lack of an efficacious vaccine. We present evidence that the recombinant leishmanial antigens LmST I1 and TSA, which we identified and characterized previously, induce excell ent protection in both murine and nonhuman primate (rhesus monkey) models o f human cutaneous leishmaniasis. The remarkable protection induced by LmSTI 1 and TSA in an animal model that is evolutionarily close to humans qualifi es this antigen combination as a promising candidate subunit vaccine agains t human leishmaniasis.