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“Leishmaniasis has recently garnered attention as one of the diseases ‘most neglected’ by drug research and selleck compound development, as the current therapeutic modalities available for the patients are ridden with unacceptable toxicity due to high dosage of the drug, prolonged treatment schedules, resistance and prohibitive costs. A successful chemotherapy requires

a restoration of immune response; therefore, we combined Leishmania-specific 78 kDa antigen (with or without adjuvant MPL-A) along with a novel drug cisplatin in infected BALB/c mice and did its comparative analysis with chemotherapy and immunotherapy alone. Animals that were treated with immunochemotherapy showed maximum curative potential as demonstrated by a marked reduction in parasite

load. Delayed-type hypersensitivity response to leishmanial antigens has been widely used to assess the level of host protection to the disease. An increased AZD6244 purchase delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response was observed in animals given immunotherapy or chemotherapy or immunochemotherapy; however, maximum DTH response was observed in animals treated with cisplatin + 78 kDa + MPL-A. These animals were also found to exhibit higher IgG2a levels greater cytokine (IFN-γ and IL-2) concentrations suggesting the generation of a strong Th1 type of immune response which is responsible for resolution of the disease. Leishmaniasis a group of diseases caused by trypanosomatids from the genus Leishmania. The disease is found endemic in 88 countries all over the world, affecting 12 million people with an estimated 1·5–2·0 million new cases and 80 000 deaths each year [1]. The disease is epidemiologically very diverse due to the large number of parasite species of genus Leishmania which are pathogenic Thiamet G to humans [2]. While substantial efforts have been

made to develop vaccine-induced specific antiparasitic immune responses, no acceptable antileishmanial vaccine exists against this infection. The first vaccine to reach the human phase I clinical trials is Leish-F3 for visceral leishmaniasis [3], and Leishmune is the only licensed vaccine against the canine disease [4]. Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), also known as BiP (Binding protein), is a 78 kDa Ca2+ binding chaperone molecule and belongs to heat shock protein 70 family (HSP70). It has been observed that immunization of mice with 78 kDa antigen of Leishmania donovani increased the production of IgG2a titre and reduced spleen weight which correlated with the decrease in parasite load [5]. Moreover, Nagill and Kaur [6] showed that 78 kDa in combination with various adjuvants imparts different degrees of protection in BALB/c mice against visceral leishmaniasis, maximum protection being observed in mice immunized with 78 kDa antigen in combination with rIL-12, MPL-A and liposome-encapsulated antigen.