DOCSLIB.ORG

Real-Time PCR Applications for Diagnosis of Leishmaniasis Luca Galluzzi* , Marcello Ceccarelli, Aurora Diotallevi, Michele Menotta and Mauro Magnani

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Real-Time PCR Applications for Diagnosis of Leishmaniasis Luca Galluzzi* , Marcello Ceccarelli, Aurora Diotallevi, Michele Menotta and Mauro Magnani Galluzzi et al. Parasites & Vectors (2018) 11:273 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2859-8 REVIEW Open Access Real-time PCR applications for diagnosis of leishmaniasis Luca Galluzzi* , Marcello Ceccarelli, Aurora Diotallevi, Michele Menotta and Mauro Magnani Abstract Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by many Leishmania species, which can infect both humans and other mammals. Leishmaniasis is a complex disease, with heterogeneous clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infections to lesions at cutaneous sites (cutaneous leishmaniasis), mucosal sites (mucocutaneous leishmaniasis) or in visceral organs (visceral leishmaniasis), depending on the species and host characteristics. Often, symptoms are inconclusive and leishmaniasis can be confused with other co-endemic diseases. Moreover, co-infections (mainly with HIV in humans) can produce atypical clinical presentations. A correct diagnosis is crucial to apply the appropriate treatment and the use of molecular techniques in diagnosis of leishmaniasis has become increasingly relevant due to their remarkable sensitivity, specificity and possible application to a variety of clinical samples. Among them, real-time PCR (qPCR)-based approaches have become increasingly popular in the last years not only for detection and quantification of Leishmania species but also for species identification. However, despite qPCR-based methods having proven to be very effective in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis, a standardized method does not exist. This review summarizes the qPCR-based methods in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis focusing on the recent developments and applications in this field. Keywords: HRM, Leishmania, Leishmaniasis, Melting curve analysis, Molecular diagnosis, qPCR, Real-time PCR Background patients or animals is lacking [3], impairing accurate epi- Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoan parasites of the demiological data collection and thus limiting the disease genus Leishmania. This genus includes three subgenera: control. Moreover, false-negative results could delay treat- Leishmania, Viannia and Sauroleishmania. Each subgenus ment, thus contributing to reservoirs maintenance. Several presents different complexes and each complex includes immunological and molecular diagnostic tools for diagno- several species [1]. Depending on the Leishmania species sis of leishmaniasis have been developed recently [4]. In and host characteristics, the infection can be asymptomatic particular, the use of molecular techniques has become or it can lead to a spectrum of diseases, notably cutaneous increasingly relevant due to their high sensitivity, specifi- leishmaniasis (CL), visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or mucocu- city and possible application to a variety of clinical sam- taneous leishmaniasis (MCL). About 12 million people are ples. Among them, the real-time PCR, also named affected by the disease; moreover, 0.2–0.4 million cases per quantitative PCR (qPCR), has become increasingly popu- year and 0.7–1.2 million cases per year have been esti- lar recently since it is fast, has broad dynamic range, and matedforVLandforCL,respectively[2]. Infections are cross-contamination is drastically reduced because there widespread both in the Americas (New World) and in is no need to open reaction tubes for post-PCR analyses. Europe, Africa, Asia (Old World), therefore constituting an The qPCR relies on analysis of fluorescent signal pro- important global health problem. duced during amplification. Fluorescence can be gener- The diagnosis of leishmaniasis relies on clinical manifes- ated by using intercalating fluorescent dyes (e.g. SYBR tations, epidemiological and laboratory data. Concerning Green) or fluorescent probes (e.g. TaqMan®). The assays the laboratory methods, a gold-standard for human based on intercalating dyes are characterized by high sen- sitivity, as long as primers are highly specific to the target * Correspondence: [email protected] sequence to avoid generation of non-specific products that Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, via Saffi would lead to overestimated or false positive results. A 2, 61029 Urbino, PU, Italy © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Galluzzi et al. Parasites & Vectors (2018) 11:273 Page 2 of 13 melting curve analysis can be performed post-PCR to (approximately 23 Kb each) linked in a concatenated ensure the presence of a single specific amplicon. For network. genotyping purposes, high resolution melt (HRM) analysis can be used to differentiate amplicons based on sequence Non-protein-coding regions variations [5]. The use of probes is typically more expen- The kDNA minicircles account for approximately 95% sive. However, using probes allows multiplexing (partially of kDNA and encode small guide RNAs (gRNAs), reducing the cost per assay) and furnish additional specifi- needed for RNA-editing of the transcripts encoded by city to the assay. Therefore, this approach is less subject to maxicircles [12]. Since minicircles are present in thou- false positives than the intercalating dye method. sands of copies per cell, they are ideal targets for highly A search in PubMed in February 2018 with the wildcard sensitive detection of Leishmania [13, 14]. Each minicir- term “Leishmania*” in conjunction with the search terms cle is composed of a conserved region containing the “real-time PCR or qPCR”, found over 540 published man- origin of replication, and a variable region encoding usu- uscripts from 2001 to February 2018. A further combin- ally a single gRNA [15]. The minicircle network is com- ation with the wildcard terms “quantif*” or “detect*” or posed of different minicircle classes. Their number can “diagnos*” and a manual sift of the papers identified nearly be variable and dependent from strain; in a recent work, 180 manuscripts focusing on the topic of this review. the presence of over 100 minicircles classes has been Nevertheless, many of these publications apply similar demonstrated in a strain of L. tarentolae using NGS assays. technology [16]. The pioneering works of Bretagne et al. [6] and The minicircle conserved region contains 3 conserved Nicolas et al. [7] described two qPCR-based methods to sequence blocks (CSB-1, CSB-2 and CSB-3) that could detect and quantify Leishmania parasites using the DNA be effective targets for PCR amplification of all minicir- polymerase gene and the minicircles kinetoplast DNA cle classes. However, polymorphisms have been shown (kDNA) as a target, respectively. Since then, a variety of in CSB-1 region of L. infantum [14] and, using primers qPCR-based assays have been developed on different amplifying a subpopulation of minicircles, also in CSB-2 molecular targets, not only for detection and quantifica- region of New World species [17]. In general, the assays tion of Leishmania species but also for genotyping and designed on minicircles conserved regions identify Leish- species identification. Regarding the detection chemistry, mania parasites only at the genus or subgenus level. In SYBR Green and TaqMan® probes were most widely fact, qPCR assays intended for a single species designed employed, followed by other probes, such as FRET on minicircles can potentially amplify more than one Leish- probes [8, 9] or MGB probes [10]. The sensitivity and mania species, as shown by several authors [14, 18–22]. specificity reported for published qPCR assays is vari- Among targets on chromosomal DNA, different able. For instance, qPCR assays developed for VL diag- regions of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, termed riboso- nosis in humans showed a specificity variation between mal DNA (rDNA), have been used. Tens or hundreds of 29.6–100% and sensitivity between 91.3–100%, indicat- copies of rDNA unit can be present per Leishmania cell, ing the usefulness of the qPCR when a sensitive tool is allowing sufficient sensitivity for analyzing clinical sam- pivotal [4]. ple DNA [23, 24]. Each rDNA repeat unit consists of In this review, recent developments and applications several genes and spacers: the SSU rRNA gene (18S) is of qPCR-based methods in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis followed by 5.8S and LSU genes; two internal transcribed are summarized, highlighting advances and limits of this spacer regions -ITS1 and ITS2 - are located between the powerful technique. 18S and 5.8S genes and between 5.8S and LSUα genes, respectively [25]. The 18S rDNA region, due to its highly Molecular targets conserved nature, is commonly utilized to design Many qPCR-based approaches for the diagnosis of primers and/or probes for the diagnosis of Leishmania leishmaniasis have been published based on coding spp. [26]. On the other hand, the ITS regions, which and/or non-coding regions in the Leishmania genome. have more variable sequences, can be used for typing at Leishmania spp. have 34–36 chromosomes and a the species level [24, 27, 28]. unique genomic organization in which protein-coding In principle, qPCR assays designed on minicircles genes are
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Due to Leishmania (Viannia) Panamensis in Two Travelers Successfully Treated with Miltefosine
    Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 103(3), 2020, pp. 1081–1084 doi:10.4269/ajtmh.20-0086 Copyright © 2020 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Case Report: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (Viannia) panamensis in Two Travelers Successfully Treated with Miltefosine S. Mann,1* T. Phupitakphol,1 B. Davis,2 S. Newman,3 J. A. Suarez,4 A. Henao-Mart´ınez,1 and C. Franco-Paredes1,5 1Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado; 2Division of Pathology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado; 3Division of Dermatology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado; 4Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical Medicine, Panama ´ City, Panama; ´ 5Hospital Infantil de Mexico, ´ Federico Gomez, ´ Mexico ´ City, Mexico ´ Abstract. We present two cases of Leishmania (V) panamensis in returning travelers from Central America suc- cessfully treated with miltefosine. The couple presented with ulcerative skin lesions nonresponsive to antibiotics. Skin biopsy with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed L. (V) panamensis. To prevent the development of mucosal disease and avoid the inconvenience of parental therapy, we treated both patients with oral miltefosine. We suggest that milte- fosine represents an important therapeutic alternative in the treatment of cutaneous lesions caused by L. panamensis and in preventing mucosal involvement. A 31-old-man and a 30-year-old woman traveled to Costa Because of the presence of a thick fibrous scar at the ul- Rica for their honeymoon. They visited many regions of this cerative lesion border, we recommended a short course of country and participated in hiking, rafting, and camping.
    [Show full text]
  • Relevance of Epidemiological Surveillance in Travelers: an Imported Case of Leishmania Tropica in Mexico
    CASE REPORT http://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-9946202062041 Relevance of epidemiological surveillance in travelers: an imported case of Leishmania tropica in Mexico Edith Araceli Fernández-Figueroa 1,2, Sokani Sánchez-Montes 2, Haydee Miranda-Ortíz 3, Alfredo Mendoza-Vargas 3, Rocely Cervantes-Sarabia4, Roberto Alejandro Cárdenas-Ovando 5, Adriana Ruiz-Remigio4, Ingeborg Becker 2,4 ABSTRACT We report the case of a patient with cutaneous leishmaniasis who showed a rapidly progressing ulcerative lesion after traveling to multiple countries where different Leishmania species are endemic. Diagnosis of Leishmania tropica, an exotic species in Mexico was established by using serological and molecular tools. KEYWORDS: Leishmania tropica. Molecular epidemiology. Local cutaneous leishmaniasis. Travel medicine. 1Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, Departamento de Genómica Poblacional, Genómica Computacional e Integrativa, Ciudad de México, Mexico INTRODUCTION 2Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Medicina, Unidad de Human cutaneous leishmaniasis is a zoonotic emerging tropical disease caused Investigación en Medicina Experimental, by 20 species of flagellated protozoa of the genus Leishmania, generating 150,000 Centro de Medicina Tropical, Ciudad de new human cases per year, that are distributed across 98 countries throughout the Old México, Mexico World and the New World1-3. Most of the Old World cases are caused by Leishmania 3Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, aethiopica, Leishmania infantum, Leishmania major and Leishmania
    [Show full text]
  • Characterization of a Leishmania Tropica Antigen That Detects Immune Responses in Desert Storm Viscerotropic Leishmaniasis Patients
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 92, pp 7981-7985, August 1995 Medical Sciences Characterization of a Leishmania tropica antigen that detects immune responses in Desert Storm viscerotropic leishmaniasis patients (parasite/diagnosis/repetitive epitope/subclass) DAVIN C. DILLON*t, CRAIG H. DAY*, JACQUELINE A. WHITTLE*, ALAN J. MAGILLt, AND STEVEN G. REED*t§ *Infectious Disease Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98104; and tWalter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307 Communicated by Paul B. Beeson, Redmond, WA, April 5, 1995 ABSTRACT A chronic debilitating parasitic infection, An alternative diagnostic strategy is to identify and apply viscerotropic leishmaniasis (VTL), has been described in immunodominant recombinant antigens to increase assay sen- Operation Desert Storm veterans. Diagnosis of this disease, sitivity and specificity. We report herein the cloning, expres- caused by Leishmania tropica, has been difficult due to low or sion, and evaluation of an immunodominant L. tropica anti- absent specific immune responses in traditional assays. We genT capable ofboth specific antibody detection and elicitation report the cloning and characterization of two genomic frag- of interferon y (IFN-y) production in peripheral blood mono- ments encoding portions of a single 210-kDa L. tropica protein nuclear cells (PBMCs) from VTL patients. These results useful for the diagnosis ofVTL in U.S. military personnel. The demonstrate the danger of relying on crude immunological recombinant proteins encoded by these fragments, recombi- assays for the diagnosis of subtle, albeit serious, VTL in Desert nant (r) Lt-1 and rLt-2, contain a 33-amino acid repeat that Storm patients. reacts with sera from Desert Storm VTL patients and with sera from L.
    [Show full text]
  • Leishmaniasis in the United States: Emerging Issues in a Region of Low Endemicity
    microorganisms Review Leishmaniasis in the United States: Emerging Issues in a Region of Low Endemicity John M. Curtin 1,2,* and Naomi E. Aronson 2 1 Infectious Diseases Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA 2 Infectious Diseases Division, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-011-301-295-6400 Abstract: Leishmaniasis, a chronic and persistent intracellular protozoal infection caused by many different species within the genus Leishmania, is an unfamiliar disease to most North American providers. Clinical presentations may include asymptomatic and symptomatic visceral leishmaniasis (so-called Kala-azar), as well as cutaneous or mucosal disease. Although cutaneous leishmaniasis (caused by Leishmania mexicana in the United States) is endemic in some southwest states, other causes for concern include reactivation of imported visceral leishmaniasis remotely in time from the initial infection, and the possible long-term complications of chronic inflammation from asymptomatic infection. Climate change, the identification of competent vectors and reservoirs, a highly mobile populace, significant population groups with proven exposure history, HIV, and widespread use of immunosuppressive medications and organ transplant all create the potential for increased frequency of leishmaniasis in the U.S. Together, these factors could contribute to leishmaniasis emerging as a health threat in the U.S., including the possibility of sustained autochthonous spread of newly introduced visceral disease. We summarize recent data examining the epidemiology and major risk factors for acquisition of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, with a special focus on Citation: Curtin, J.M.; Aronson, N.E.
    [Show full text]
  • Semi-Quantitative, Duplexed Qpcr Assay for the Detection of Leishmania Spp
    Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Article Semi-Quantitative, Duplexed qPCR Assay for the Detection of Leishmania spp. Using Bisulphite Conversion Technology Ineka Gow 1,2,*, Douglas Millar 2 , John Ellis 1 , John Melki 2 and Damien Stark 3 1 School of Life Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; [email protected] 2 Genetic Signatures Ltd., Sydney, NSW 2042, Australia; [email protected] (D.M.); [email protected] (J.M.) 3 Microbiology Department, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; +61-466263511 Received: 6 October 2019; Accepted: 28 October 2019; Published: 1 November 2019 Abstract: Leishmaniasis is caused by the flagellated protozoan Leishmania, and is a neglected tropical disease (NTD), as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Bisulphite conversion technology converts all genomic material to a simplified form during the lysis step of the nucleic acid extraction process, and increases the efficiency of multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) reactions. Through utilization of qPCR real-time probes, in conjunction with bisulphite conversion, a new duplex assay targeting the 18S rDNA gene region was designed to detect all Leishmania species. The assay was validated against previously extracted DNA, from seven quantitated DNA and cell standards for pan-Leishmania analytical sensitivity data, and 67 cutaneous clinical samples for cutaneous clinical sensitivity data. Specificity was evaluated by testing 76 negative clinical samples and 43 bacterial, viral, protozoan and fungal species. The assay was also trialed in a side-by-side experiment against a conventional PCR (cPCR), based on the Internal transcribed spacer region 1 (ITS1 region).
    [Show full text]
  • Canine Leishmaniosis in South America Filipe Dantas-Torres*
    Parasites & Vectors Review Open Access Canine leishmaniosis in South America Filipe Dantas-Torres* Address: Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy Email: Filipe Dantas-Torres* - [email protected] * Corresponding author from 4th International Canine Vector-Borne Disease Symposium Seville, Spain. 26–28 March 2009 Published: 26 March 2009 Parasites & Vectors 2009, 2(Suppl 1):S1 doi:10.1186/1756-3305-2-S1-S1 This article is available from: http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/2/S1/S1 © 2009 Dantas-Torres; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Canine leishmaniosis is widespread in South America, where a number of Leishmania species have been isolated or molecularly characterised from dogs. Most cases of canine leishmaniosis are caused by Leishmania infantum (syn. Leishmania chagasi) and Leishmania braziliensis. The only well- established vector of Leishmania parasites to dogs in South America is Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main vector of L. infantum, but many other phlebotomine sandfly species might be involved. For quite some time, canine leishmaniosis has been regarded as a rural disease, but nowadays it is well- established in large urbanised areas. Serological investigations reveal that the prevalence of anti- Leishmania antibodies in dogs might reach more than 50%, being as high as 75% in highly endemic foci. Many aspects related to the epidemiology of canine leishmaniosis (e.g., factors increasing the risk disease development) in some South American countries other than Brazil are poorly understood and should be further studied.
    [Show full text]
  • Muco-Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the New World: the Ultimate Subversion Catherine Ronet University of Lausanne
    Washington University School of Medicine Digital Commons@Becker Open Access Publications 2011 Muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World: The ultimate subversion Catherine Ronet University of Lausanne Stephen M. Beverley Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Nicolas Fasel University of Lausanne Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/open_access_pubs Recommended Citation Ronet, Catherine; Beverley, Stephen M.; and Fasel, Nicolas, ,"Muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World: The ultimate subversion." Virulence.2,6. 547-552. (2011). https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/open_access_pubs/2631 This Open Access Publication is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons@Becker. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Becker. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ARTICLE ADDENDUM ARTICLE ADDENDUM Virulence 2:6, 547-552; November/December 2011; © 2011 Landes Bioscience Muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World The ultimate subversion Catherine Ronet,1 Stephen M. Beverley2 and Nicolas Fasel1,* 1Department of Biochemistry; University of Lausanne; Epalinges, Switzerland; 2Department of Molecular Microbiology; Washington University School of Medicine; St. Louis, MO USA nfection by the human protozoan par- Additionally, host factors are thought to Iasite Leishmania can lead, depending play significant roles in determining the primarily on the parasite species, to either clinical course of the disease as well. cutaneous or mucocutaneous lesions, or Leishmania parasites exist as free- fatal generalized visceral infection. In living promastigotes in the sand fly vector. the New World, Leishmania (Viannia) Following differentiation to the infective species can cause mucocutaneous leish- metacyclic form, parasites are deposited in maniasis (MCL).
    [Show full text]
  • Geographical Distribution of Leishmania Species in Colombia, 1985-2017
    Salgado-AlmarioBiomédica 2019;39: J, Hernández278-90 CA, Ovalle CE Biomédica 2019;39:278-90 doi: https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v39i3.4312 Original article Geographical distribution of Leishmania species in Colombia, 1985-2017 Jussep Salgado-Almario1, Carlos Arturo Hernández2, Clemencia Ovalle-Bracho1 1 Hospital Universitario Centro Dermatológico Federico Lleras Acosta, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia 2 Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia Introduction: Knowledge of the geographical distribution of Leishmania species allows guiding the sampling to little-studied areas and implementing strategies to define risk zones and priority areas for control. Objective: Given that there is no publication that collects this information, the search, review, and compilation of the available scientific literature that has identified species in Colombia is presented in this paper. Materials and methods: A bibliographic search was performed in PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, SciELO and LILACS with the terms “(Leishmania OR Leishmaniasis) AND species AND Colombia”, without restrictions on publication year, language or infected organism; records of national scientific events and repositories of theses from Colombian universities were also included. Results: Eighty-six scientific documents published between 1985 and 2017 were found in which the species of Leishmania and their geographical origin were indicated. The species reported, in descending order of frequency, were: Leishmania (Viannia) panamensis, L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (V.) guyanensis, L. (Leishmania) infantum, L. (L.) amazonensis, L. (L.) mexicana, L. (V.) colombiensis, L. (V.) lainsoni and L. (V.) equatorensis; the last three were found with the same frequency. Leishmania species were reported from 29 departments. Conclusion: Information on the distribution of Leishmania species in Colombia is limited; therefore, it is necessary to gather existing data and propose studies that consolidate the distribution maps of Leishmania species in Colombia.
    [Show full text]
  • World Health Organization (WHO). Control of the Leishmaniasis
    WHO Technical Report Series 949 This report makes recommendations on new therapeutic regimens for visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis, on the use of rapid diagnostic tests, details on the management of Leishmania–HIV coinfection and consideration of social factors and climate change as risk factors for increased spread. Control of the leishmaniases Recommendations for research include the furtherance of epidemiological knowledge of the disease and clinical Control studies to address the lack of an evidence-based therapeutic regimen for cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). This report not only provides clear guidance on implementation but should also raise awareness about the global of burden of leishmaniasis and its neglect. It puts forward directions for formulation of national control programmes the and elaborates the strategic approaches in the fight against the leishmaniases. The committee's work reflects the latest scientific and other relevantα β developments in the field of leishmaniasis that can be considered by Member States when setting national programmes and making public health decisions. leishmaniases Report of a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Control of Leishmaniases, Geneva, 22–26 March 2010 WHO Technical ISBN 978 92 4 120949 6 Report Series 949 WHO Technical Report Series 949 CONTROL OF THE LEISHMANIASES Report of a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Control of Leishmaniases, Geneva, 22–26 March 2010 WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Control of the leishmaniasis: report of a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Control of Leishmaniases, Geneva, 22-26 March 2010. (WHO technical report series ; no.
    [Show full text]
  • The Maze Pathway of Coevolution: a Critical Review Over the Leishmania and Its Endosymbiotic History
    G C A T T A C G G C A T genes Review The Maze Pathway of Coevolution: A Critical Review over the Leishmania and Its Endosymbiotic History Lilian Motta Cantanhêde , Carlos Mata-Somarribas, Khaled Chourabi, Gabriela Pereira da Silva, Bruna Dias das Chagas, Luiza de Oliveira R. Pereira , Mariana Côrtes Boité and Elisa Cupolillo * Research on Leishmaniasis Laboratory, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040360, Brazil; lilian.cantanhede@ioc.fiocruz.br (L.M.C.); carlos.somarribas@ioc.fiocruz.br (C.M.-S.); khaled.chourabi@ioc.fiocruz.br (K.C.); gabriela.silva@ioc.fiocruz.br (G.P.d.S.); bruna.chagas@ioc.fiocruz.br (B.D.d.C.); luizaper@ioc.fiocruz.br (L.d.O.R.P.); boitemc@ioc.fiocruz.br (M.C.B.) * Correspondence: elisa.cupolillo@ioc.fiocruz.br; Tel.: +55-21-38658177 Abstract: The description of the genus Leishmania as the causative agent of leishmaniasis occurred in the modern age. However, evolutionary studies suggest that the origin of Leishmania can be traced back to the Mesozoic era. Subsequently, during its evolutionary process, it achieved worldwide dispersion predating the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent. It is assumed that this parasite evolved from monoxenic Trypanosomatidae. Phylogenetic studies locate dixenous Leishmania in a well-supported clade, in the recently named subfamily Leishmaniinae, which also includes monoxe- nous trypanosomatids. Virus-like particles have been reported in many species of this family. To date, several Leishmania species have been reported to be infected by Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) and Leishbunyavirus (LBV). Since the first descriptions of LRVs decades ago, differences in their genomic Citation: Cantanhêde, L.M.; structures have been highlighted, leading to the designation of LRV1 in L.(Viannia) species and LRV2 Mata-Somarribas, C.; Chourabi, K.; in L.(Leishmania) species.
    [Show full text]
  • First Report of Canine Infection by Leishmania (Viannia) Guyanensis in the Brazilian Amazon
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article First Report of Canine Infection by Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis in the Brazilian Amazon Francisco J. A. Santos 1, Luciana C. S. Nascimento 1,2, Wellington B. Silva 3 , Luciana P. Oliveira 1, Walter S. Santos 1 ,Délia C. F. Aguiar 4 and Lourdes M. Garcez 1,2,* 1 Seção de Parasitologia, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Ministério da Saúde, Ananindeua 67030-000, Pará, Brazil; [email protected] (F.J.A.S.); [email protected] (L.C.S.N.); [email protected] (L.P.O.); [email protected] (W.S.S.) 2 Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade do Estado do Pará, Belém 66095-662, Pará, Brazil 3 Centro Nacional de Primatas, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ministério da Saúde, Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Ananindeua 67030-000, Pará, Brazil; [email protected] 4 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém 66075-110, Pará, Brazil; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +55-91-3214-2152 Received: 11 September 2020; Accepted: 22 October 2020; Published: 16 November 2020 Abstract: The American cutaneous (CL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are zooanthroponoses transmitted by sand flies. Brazil records thousands of human leishmaniasis cases annually. Dogs are reservoirs of Leishmania infantum, which causes VL, but their role in the transmission cycle of CL is debatable. Wild mammals are considered reservoirs of the aetiological agents of CL (Leishmania spp.). Objective: To describe the aetiology of leishmaniasis in dogs in an endemic area for CL and VL in the Amazon, Brazil.
    [Show full text]
  • Leishmania (Leishmania) Major HASP and SHERP Genes During Metacyclogenesis in the Sand Fly Vectors, Phlebotomus (Phlebotomus) Papatasi and Ph
    Investigating the role of the Leishmania (Leishmania) major HASP and SHERP genes during metacyclogenesis in the sand fly vectors, Phlebotomus (Phlebotomus) papatasi and Ph. (Ph.) duboscqi Johannes Doehl PhD University of York Department of Biology Centre for Immunology and Infection September 2013 1 I’d like to dedicate this thesis to my parents, Osbert and Ulrike, without whom I would never have been here. 2 Abstract Leishmania parasites are the causative agents of a diverse spectrum of infectious diseases termed the leishmaniases. These digenetic parasites exist as intracellular, aflagellate amastigotes in a mammalian host and as extracellular flagellated promastigotes within phlebotomine sand fly vectors of the family Phlebotominae. Within the sand fly vector’s midgut, Leishmania has to undergo a complex differentiation process, termed metacyclogenesis, to transform from non-infective procyclic promastigotes into mammalian-infective metacyclics. Members of our research group have shown previously that parasites deleted for the L. (L.) major cDNA16 locus (a region of chromosome 23 that codes for the stage-regulated HASP and SHERP proteins) do not complete metacyclogenesis in the sand fly midgut, although metacyclic-like stages can be generated in in vitro culture (Sádlová et al. Cell. Micro.2010, 12, 1765-79). To determine the contribution of individual genes in the locus to this phenotype, I have generated a range of 17 mutants in which target HASP and SHERP genes are reintroduced either individually or in combination into their original genomic locations within the L. (L.) major cDNA16 double deletion mutant. All replacement strains have been characterized in vitro with respect to their gene copy number, correct gene integration and stage-regulated protein expression, prior to phenotypic analysis.
    [Show full text]