Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China.
Exp Parasitol. 2011 Aug;128(4):427-32. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2011.05.012. Epub 2011 May 23.
Cimetidine (CIM), a histamine-2-receptor antagonist, has a long history of safe use in gastric acid-mediated gastrointestinal disorders. In this study, we used CIM, as an adjuvant, with pEGFP-Sj26 GST (the recombinant plasmid containing enhanced green fluorescent protein gene and the gene encoding 26 kDa glutathione S-transferase of Schistosoma japonicum) DNA vaccine to immunized mice and attempted to enhance the protective effect against S. japonicum. The results showed that the reduction rate of worm and egg burdens in the pEGFP-Sj26GST plus CIM group were 79.0% and 68.4%, respectively, significantly higher than that in pEGFP-Sj26GST alone group (27.0% and 22.5%, P<0.01). Compared with the pEGFP-Sj26GST alone group, mice immunized with pEGFP-Sj26GST plus CIM showed an elevated level of IFN-γ and IL-12 and a low level of IL-10 in splenocytes, while the levels of IL-4 and IL-5 showed no difference between the two groups. Our data also demonstrated that the percentage of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) was significantly decreased in the spleens of mice immunized with pEGFP-Sj26GST plus CIM. All these findings suggest that CIM as a potential schistosome DNA vaccine adjuvant can enhance the protective effect of pEGFP-Sj26GST vaccine.
西咪替丁（CIM）作为一种组胺-2 受体拮抗剂，在胃酸介导的胃肠道疾病的治疗中具有悠久的安全使用历史。在这项研究中，我们使用 CIM 作为佐剂，与 pEGFP-Sj26GST（含有增强型绿色荧光蛋白基因和日本血吸虫 26kDa 谷胱甘肽 S-转移酶基因的重组质粒）DNA 疫苗一起免疫小鼠，并试图增强其对日本血吸虫的保护作用。结果表明，pEGFP-Sj26GST 加 CIM 组的减虫率和减卵率分别为 79.0%和 68.4%，明显高于 pEGFP-Sj26GST 单独组（27.0%和 22.5%，P<0.01）。与 pEGFP-Sj26GST 单独组相比，pEGFP-Sj26GST 加 CIM 免疫的小鼠脾细胞中 IFN-γ和 IL-12 水平升高，IL-10 水平降低，而两组 IL-4 和 IL-5 水平无差异。我们的数据还表明，pEGFP-Sj26GST 加 CIM 免疫的小鼠脾脏中 CD4(+)CD25(+)调节性 T 细胞（Tregs）的百分比显著降低。所有这些发现表明，CIM 作为一种潜在的血吸虫 DNA 疫苗佐剂，可以增强 pEGFP-Sj26GST 疫苗的保护作用。
