CD8(+) T Cells in Leishmania Infections: Friends or Foes?

Stäger, Simona; Rafati, Sima

The essential point to be considered in vaccine design for a heterogeneous population, such as that of humans, is the HLA polymorphism. Effective vaccination against a complex parasitic infection such as Leishmania would require a multivalent vaccine composed of several antigens to enhance the possibility of covering a good number of MHC types. This is possible either through recombinant fusion proteins encompassing the whole antigen or through vaccines composed of peptides from different antigens (Campos-Neto et al., 2001; Rafati et al., 2001; Mendez et al., 2002) . The latter strategy, called polytope vaccine, is finding its way in vaccinology because of its extraordinary properties, especially the ability to direct the immune response toward the induction of CTLs (Sbai et al., 2001; Schirmbeck et al., 2003; Robinson and Amara, 2005) .