Non-pathogenic trypanosomatid protozoa as a platform for protein research and production

Non-Viral Delivery Systems in Gene Therapy and Vaccine Development

“…Interestingly, a recombinant L. tarentolae vaccine expressing high levels of full-length HIV-1 Gag elicited cell-mediated immunity in mice model and decreased HIV-1 replication in human tonsillar tissue following exposure to HIV-1 infection [Breton et al, 2007]. These data suggest that the use of L. tarentolae as a live vaccine vector may represent a promising approach for improving immunity and safety of candidate live vaccines against Leishmania infections and likely other intracellular pathogens for which Tcell mediated responses are critical for the development of protective immunity [Breitling et al, 2002;Breton et al, 2005].…”

Structural Biology of Glycoproteins

“…The advantages of the L. tarentolae system (commercialized by Jena Biosciences as LEXSY) are that it is simple to use, gives high yields and is inexpensive compared with the higher eukaryotes. L. tarentolae has eukaryotic folding and post-translational machinery and has been used in a proof of principle experiment to express glycosylated human erythropoietin [60]. These data show that use of L. tarentolae as a host system is applicable to the expression of glycoproteins for structural studies.…”

T7 polymerase-driven transcription is downregulated in metacyclic promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana

“…In our study, the mCherry, T7 polymerase, and Tet-repressor genes were flanked by the UTRs derived from the calmodulin (LtaP.09.0940) intergenic regions of Leishmania tarentolae Wenyon, 1921(Breitling et al 2002, Kushnir et al 2005. Whole-transcriptome profiling revealed that calmodulin mRNA abundance in species of Leishmania is developmentally regulated.…”