Establishment of monoclonal antibodies to evaluate the cellular immunity in a hamster model of L. infantum infection.

Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) are largely used as a model for infectious diseases because it is very susceptible to several pathogens, including Leishmania spp. parasites. However, the research community faces limitations in its use due to the lack of immunological reagents and tools to study the immune system in this model. In this context, we proposed the validation of some important commercially anti-mouse mAbs (CD4, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-10) and how this could be useful to evaluate a specific cellular immune response in Leishmania-infected hamster using flow cytometry experiments. Our data demonstrated a cross-reactivity between these anti-mouse mAbs and hamster molecules that were herein studied. Beyond that, it was able to characterize the development of a specific cellular immune response through cytokine production in L infantum-infected hamsters when compared to uninfected ones. These data not only aid the usage of hamsters as experimental model to investigate various infectious diseases, but they contribute to the design of novel approaches to further investigate the immunological mechanisms associated to pathogen infections.