Leishmania infection continues to have a major impact on public health inducing significant morbidity and mortality mostly in the poorest populations. Drug resistance, toxicity and side effects associated with expensive chemotherapeutic treatments and difficult reservoir control emphasize the need for a safe and effective
vaccine which is not available yet. Although, Leishmanization (LZ) was shown to be effective against
cutaneous leishmaniasis, standardization and safety are the main problems of LZ. First generation killed parasites demonstrated limited efficacy in phase 3 trials and moreover well defined molecules have not reached to phase 3 yet. Limited efficacy in
vaccines against
leishmaniasis is partly due to lack of an appropriate adjuvant. Hence, the use of particulate delivery systems as carriers for
antigen and/or immunostimulatory adjuvants for effective delivery to the antigen-presenting cells (APCs) is a valuable strategy to enhance
vaccine efficacies. Particle-based delivery systems such as
emulsions,
liposomes,
virosomes, and polymeric
microspheres have the potential for successfully delivering
antigens, which can then be further improved via incorporation of additional antigenic or immustimulatory adjuvant components in or onto the particle carrier system. In this review, we have attempted to provide a list of particulate
vaccine delivery systems involved in the production of candidate
leishmaniasis vaccines and introduced some potentially useful
vaccine delivery systems for
leishmaniasis in future experiments. In conclusion,
combination vaccines (adjuvant systems) composed of candidate
antigens and more importantly well-developed particulate delivery systems, such as
lipid-based particles containing immunostimulatory adjuvants, have a chance to succeed as antileishmanial
vaccines.