Identification and Cloning of Leishmania tropica sodb1 Gene Using pCI Expression Vector

Abstract

leishmaniasis is a significant health problem in many parts of the world resulting in an estimated 2 million new cases each year. However, there is currently no ideal treatment for Cutaneous Leishmania has been identified which emphasize the need for vaccine development. A multitude of vaccine strategies has been pursued including the use of killed and genetically modified parasites. Immunization with DNA vaccines encoding Leishmania antigens represents a new approach to a Leishmania vaccine. Iron superoxide dismutase B1 (Fe-SODB1) is considered a potential candidate for a leishmaniasis vaccine against many leishmania species. In the present work sodb1 was isolated from a Leishmania tropica, using PCR with a set of primers derived from conserved amino acids of iron SODs (Fe-SODs). Then it was inserted into pCI vector, under the transcriptional control of the CMV promoter. This study was performed to characterize the gene that code for FeSODB1 in Leishmania tropica and evaluate a DNA vaccine Fe-SODB1.