Louis, MO, USA).

Microtiter plates (Nunc Immunoplates) coated with TcSP recombinant protein (2 μg/mL) or epimastigotes lysate (5 μg/mL) in carbonate buffer (pH 9·6) were incubated overnight at 4°C. The plates were washed with PBS containing 0·05% Tween 20 (PBST) and then incubated with blocking buffer (PBS containing 5% skim milk) for 1 h at 37°C. Mouse polyclonal sera were diluted (1 : 50) in blocking buffer, added to duplicate series of wells and incubated for 1 h at 37°C. Wells were washed six times with PBST, incubated with 50 μL of biotinylated anti-mouse immunoglobulin (IgG1, IgG3, FK506 mw IgG2a and IgG2b) antibodies (Zymed) at a dilution of 1 : 1000 in PBST and incubated for 2 h at room temperature. The plates were washed five times with PBST and incubated with 50 μL of a 1 : 1000 dilution of horseradish peroxidase-streptavidin (Zymed) for 1 h at 37°C. The plates were washed as described and then developed with 2,2-azino-bis[3-ethylbenzthiazoline]-6-sulphonic acid (Zymed). The coloration was developed for 20 min at room temperature. Absorbance was determined at 405 nm in an ELISA reader (Labsystem Multiskan MS, Helsinki, Finland). Cytokines were analysed in serum collected 14 days after the last immunization using a Flow Cytomix Mouse Th1/Th2 10plex kit, a set of fluorescent beads for quantitative

detection of cytokines in serum according find more to the manufacturer’s instructions (BMS820FF; Bender MedSystems, Vienna, Austria). Briefly, serum samples in assay buffer and beads coated with specific antibodies were incubated to allow for a reaction against cytokines and specific anti-cytokine biotinylated antibodies, followed by washing and centrifugation.

The samples were incubated with conjugated streptavidin-phycoerythrin and analysed in a FACScalibur Flow Cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA). Cytokine concentrations were resolved using the Flow CytomixPro Software (Bender MedSystems). The results are expressed as means ± SD. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) anova followed by a Bonferroni post hoc test to identify significantly different groups. The survival time was calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method with Mantel-Cox log-rank test. Differences were considered to be statistically significant when the P-value was  < 0·05. Screening of a T. cruzi genomic expression library with anti-TcSSP4 (T. cruzi amastigote-specific surface protein 4) antibodies revealed 10 highly positives clones [28], one of which (A83) was selected for further characterization. This clone encodes a surface protein of the TS superfamily (TcSP) (data not shown) and contains three domains: A (N-terminal), R (central amino acid repeats sequence) and C (C-terminal). Initial experiments revealed that the recombinant protein rTcSP was recognized by sera from the T. cruzi-infected mice (see below), indicating that the native protein is immunogenic.