Vaccination of mice against Leishmania mexicana amazonensis with microsomal fraction associated with BCG

Attempts to develop a satisfactory vaccine against New World cutaneous leishmaniasis have been made with varying success. We found that in mice, pretreated subcutaneously with 2 X 10(6) BCG organisms 2 weeks prior to immunization at the same site with as low as 10 micrograms of a microsomal preparation (Pol-F) of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis, a profound alteration was observed in the course of infection produced by inoculation of virulent amastigotes of the same strain. The BCG-Pol-F vaccine preparation was consistently shown to have a protective capacity associated with larger classical cellular immune response (skin test) and higher specific antibody titres in response to leishmanial challenge dose (1 X 10(6) amastigotes/mouse).