Protective effect of DNA-mediated immunization with liposome-encapsulated GRA4 against infection of Toxoplasma gondii

The dense granule protein 4 （GRA4） is a granular protein from Toxoplasma gondii, and is a candidate for vaccination against this parasite. In this study, the plasmid pcDNA3, 1-GRA4 （pGRA4）, encoding for the GRA4 antigen, was incorporated by the dehydration-rehydration method into liposomes composed of 16 mmol/L egg phosphatidylcholine （PC）, 8 mmol/L dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine （DOPE）, and 4 mmol/L 1,2-diodeoyl-3-（trimethylammonium） propane （DOTAP）. C57BL/6 mice and BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly three times with liposome-encapsulated pGRA4 to determine whether DNA immunization could elicit a protective immune response to T. gondii. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） of sera from immunized mice showed that liposome-encapsulated pGRA4 generated high levels of IgG antibodies to GRA4. Production of primary interferon （IFN）-7 and interleukin （IL）-2 in GRA4-stimulated splenocytes from vaccinated mice suggested a modulated Th 1-type response. 72.7% of C57BL/6 mice immunized with liposome-encapsulated pGRA4 survived the challenge with 80 tissue cysts of ME49 strain, whereas C57BL/6 mice immunized with pGRA4 had only a survival rate of 54.5%. When immunized BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally challenged with 103 tachyzoites of the highly virulent RH strain, the survival time of mice immunized with liposome-encapsulated pGRA4 was markedly longer than that of other groups. Our observations show that liposome-encapsulated pGRA4 enhanced the protective effect against infection of T. gondii.