Immunotherapy of canine leishmaniasis by photodynamic vaccination

A novel cell-mediated immunotherapy is being developed according to the Leishmania strategy of vaccine delivery (Chang et al., 2016 Parasit Vectors. 9:396) against difficult-to-cure diseases, e. g. canine leishmaniasis in Italy. The current clinical management of this disease there entails prolonged treatments of sick dogs for 30 days with heavy daily dosage of very toxic drugs (antimonials/miltefosine) followed by a daily maintenance dose of allopurinol for life. Still, relapses of the disease are frequent within the first year. When applied appropriately, the immunotherapy appears to boost the feeble immunity expected to develop after chemotherapy. Work is on-going to see if it is robust enough to clear the infection completely from immunized dogs, and to enroll additional dogs for both prophylactic and therapeutic trials.