Abstract
In the present study, we evaluated the immunopotentiating efficacy of tuftsin against experimental murine aspergillosis in both normal and immunodebilitant BALB/c mice. The animals were challenged with an isolate of
Aspergillus fumigatus (1
×
10
8 cfu/mouse) that was showing less susceptibility to lower doses of amphotericin B in murine animal model. Co-administration of the immunomodulator tuftsin and liposomised-amphotericin B was found to be highly effective in the treatment of systemic infection of
A. fumigatus in both immunocompetent and leukopenic mice. Moreover, pre-treatment of mice with liposomised-tuftsin prior to challenging them with
A. fumigatus infection and subsequent treatment with tuftsin-bearing liposomised-amphotericin B was found to be extremely efficient in successful elimination of fungal pathogen. In another set of experiments, tuftsin-mediated antigen-specific memory antibody response was also assessed by immunizing the animals with
A. fumigatus cytosolic antigen. The animals that received a booster 150
days after the first immunization with tuftsin–liposomes–antigen showed more resistance to
A. fumigatus infection in comparison with the naïve animals.