CD25⁺ cell depletion does not increase protection induced by immunization with pVAX1-Sj26GST.

<p>C57BL/6 mice (6 per group) were intraperitoneally administered 500 µg/mouse of anti-CD25 or isotype IgG1 on day -3. Three days later (D0), the mice were vaccinated with 50 µg/mouse of pVAX1 or pVAX1-Sj26GST DNA intradermally with three doses on a two weeks interval. Seven days after the last dose of vaccine, mice were sacrificed for the characterization of cellular and humoral immune response. Alternately, two weeks after the final vaccination, mice (8 per group) from each group were challenged percutaneously with 40±1 <i>S. japonicum</i> cercariae. Six weeks later the mice were sacrificed and perfused to determine worm burdens and liver egg burdens. (A) Experimental model diagram. The adult worm (B) and liver egg burdens (C) per mouse in each group were determined. The data are expressed as the mean±SD (n = 8) and are representative of two independent experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05.