Interestingly, vaccination of mice with TSA DNA consistently induced protection to a much greater extent than LmSTI1 DNA, thus supporting the notion that CD8 responses might be an important accessory arm of the immune response for acquired resistance against leishmaniasis.
The remarkable protection induced by LmSTI1 and TSA in an animal model that is evolutionarily close to humans qualifies this antigen combination as a promising candidate subunit vaccine against human leishmaniasis.