Vaccine-Linked Chemotherapy Improves Benznidazole Efficacy for Acute Chagas Disease [Microbial Immunity and Vaccines]

In this study, we were able to achieve a 4-fold reduction in the amount of benznidazole required to significantly reduce blood and tissue parasite burdens by combining the low-dose benznidazole with a recombinant vaccine candidate, Tc24 C4, formulated with a synthetic Toll-like 4 receptor agonist, E6020, in a squalene oil-in-water emulsion. Additionally, vaccination induced a robust parasite-specific balanced TH1/TH2 immune response. We concluded that vaccine-linked chemotherapy is a feasible option for advancement to clinical use for improving the tolerability and efficacy of benznidazole.

Source: Infection and Immunity - March 22, 2018 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Jones, K., Versteeg, L., Damania, A., Keegan, B., Kendricks, A., Pollet, J., Cruz-Chan, J. V., Gusovsky, F., Hotez, P. J., Bottazzi, M. E. Tags: Microbial Immunity and Vaccines Source Type: research