[leish-l] Fwd: Articles found by RefScout 15/06/2005 - 24/2005

Fri Jun 17 19:56:32 BRT 2005

    Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 04:37:08
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This is RefScout-Newsletter 24/2005 .

REQUEST: [ leishmaniasis ]

(8 articles match this request)

PMID: 15896700

TITLE: Antiparasitic activity of a triphenyl tin complex against Leishmania
donovani.

AUTHORS: Bikramjit Raychaudhury, Shouvik Banerjee, Shreedhara Gupta, Ran Vir
Singh, Salil C Datta

AFFILIATION: Department of Biological Chemistry, Infectious Diseases Group,
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032,
India.

REFERENCE: Acta Trop 2005 Jul 95(1):1-8

Visceral leishmaniasis is a life-threatening human disease commonly 
known as kala-azar. Leishmania donovani is the causative agent of this 
parasitic disease transmitted by the sand fly vector to infect hosts. 
Triphenyl tin salicylanilide thiosemicarbazone [Ph(3)Sn(OSal.TSCZH)] (
TTST) which is an organometallic complex of triphenyl tin has been 
evaluated to explore possibility to develop a potent chemotherapeutic 
agent against visceral leishmaniasis. Effect of triphenyl tin complex on
 growth inhibition and host-parasite interaction were examined both in 
vitro and in vivo. Release of toxic superoxide radical was measured 
spectrophotometrically through the formation of blue formazan derived 
from reduced nitrobluetetrazolium. To understand mode of action of Ph(3)
Sn(OSal.TSCZH), superoxide dismutase activity was determined 
spectrophotometrically by measuring ability of this enzyme to inhibit 
pyrogallol autoxidation and also by activity staining of the non-
denaturing polyacrylamide gels after separating superoxide dismutase. 
Antileishmanial activity of triphenyl tin complex were found to be 
effective both in vitro and in vivo at lower concentrations compared to 
the existing toxic drugs available. IC(50) of Ph(3)Sn(OSal.TSCZH) was 
calculated as 0.05+/-0.01mg/L. Intracellular survival of the parasite in
 host macrophages was inhibited by TTST in a dose dependent manner. 
Parasite burden in spleen was reduced to 87% under TTST treatment (10mg/
kg body weight) and under sodium antimony gluconate (20mg/kg body weight
) reduced nearly to 65%. Its action as a chemotherapeutic agent is found
 to be mediated through inhibition of superoxide dismutase and 
simultaneous release of toxic superoxide radical. We propose that Ph(3) 
Sn(OSal.TSCZH) may be considered as a prospective candidate to establish
 a better line of therapeutic process against experimental visceral 
leishmaniasis.

PMID: 15935321

TITLE: American tegumentary leishmaniasis: A quantitative analysis of Langerhans
cells presents important differences between L. (L.) amazonensis and Viannia
subgenus.

AUTHORS: MarÃlia Brasil Xavier, Fernando Tobias Silveira, SÃ¢mia Demachki,
MÃ¡rcia Milene Rodrigues Ferreira, JosÃ© Luiz Martins do Nascimento

AFFILIATION: Departamento de Medicina ComunitÃ¡ria, Universidade do Estado do
ParÃ¡, PerebebuÃ 2623, 66087-670 BelÃ©m, ParÃ¡, Brazil; NÃºcleo de Medicina
Tropical, Universidade Federal do ParÃ¡, GeneralÃssimo Deodoro 92, 66055-240
BelÃ©m, ParÃ¡, Brazil.

REFERENCE: Acta Trop 2005 Jul 95(1):67-73

A quantitative study was conducted on the density of Langerhans cells (
LCs) CD1a+ in specimens obtained from patients with American tegumentary
 leishmaniasis (ATL) lesions without previous treatment, as well as from
 control healthy individuals. LC density was significantly higher among 
infected patients when compared to controls and also higher in longer 
term ones. Regarding parasite quantities, these were proportionally 
inverse and diminished in chronic patients. Localized cutaneous 
leishmaniasis (LCL) showed an increase in cell population when compared 
to diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL). A tendency towards density 
increase was observed in LC Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis patients
 when compared to Leishmania (Viannia) sp. Regarding the delayed 
hypersensitivity test (DTH, Montenegro skin test), L. (L.) amazonensis 
demonstrated a peculiar behavior because it is a poor cell immune 
inducer, presenting - among LCL patients - higher density in negative 
Montenegro patients than in positive ones. Negative DTH responses are 
usually poor in LC, although this was not evidenced in this study, 
possibly due to cell reposition, in order to stimulate immune response. 
Such results confirm the important role of LC in ATL, while suggesting 
that L. (L.) amazonensis may be a good model for LC studies as APC in 
ATL, due to its spectral immunological and clinical behavior.

PMID: 15941439

TITLE: Post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis with visceral leishmaniasis: a rare
presentation.

AUTHORS: Arpana Rijal, Sudha Agrawal, Arun Agarwalla, Anshoo Agrawal, Suman
Rijal

AFFILIATION: From the Department of Dermatology, Pathology and Medicine, B. P.
Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.

REFERENCE: Int J Dermatol 2005 Jun 44(6):494-6

PMID: 15941427

TITLE: Short Communication: Palestinian infantile visceral leishmaniasis caused
by a genetic variant of Leishmania infantum belonging to a new zymodeme.

AUTHORS: Khaldoun A Bader, Lionel F Schnur, Abedelmajeed Nasereddin, Francine
Pratlong, Jean-Pierre Dedet, Loay Shaheen, Obaida Yousef, Charles L Greenblatt

AFFILIATION: Department of Parasitology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical
School, Jerusalem, Israel.

REFERENCE: Trop Med Int Health 2005 Jun 10(6):618-20

Summary The parasites causing a Palestinian case of infantile visceral 
leishmaniasis (IVL) and those from four dogs from the Jenin District 
were identified serologically, biochemically and molecular biologically 
as Leishmania infantum, showing dogs act as a reservoir. The strain from
 the human case was distinct because of its unique 200-bp kDNA-
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) component in its restriction fragment 
length polymorphism (RFLP) profile after digestion with the endonuclease
 RsaI, and by the electrophoretic mobility of its malate dehydrogenase (
MDH(140)), designating it the reference strain of a new zymodeme of L. 
infantum, MON-281.

PMID: 15949184

TITLE: Evaluation of a dot-immunoblot assay for detecting leishmanial antigen in
naturally infected Phlebotomus argentipes (Diptera: Psychodidae).

AUTHORS: V Kumar, S Bimal, S Kesari, A J Kumar, A K Bagchi, M A Akbar, K
Kishore, S K Bhattacharya, P Das

AFFILIATION: Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian
Council of Medical Research, Agamkuan, Patna - 800 007, Bihar, India.

REFERENCE: Ann Trop Med Parasitol 2005 Jun 99(4):371-6

A simple and highly reproducible dot-immunoblot assay was developed to 
detect leishmanial antigen in Phlebotomus argentipes that were naturally
 infected with Leishmania donovani. The test was sensitive to as little 
as 10 ng of antigenic protein (equivalent to the gut content of one 
laboratory-infected sandfly) and also appeared to be specific, in that 
it gave a positive result with some P. argentipes (the primary vector of
 L. donovani in India) and L. donovani but not with P. papatasi or other
 pathogens.When used to investigate a large number of sandflies 
collected from two areas of the Indian state of Bihar where visceral 
leishmaniasis is endemic, the assay appeared sufficiently sensitive and 
specific to detect the naturally infected insects. The simplicity, 
reproducibility, high sensitivity and high specificity of the assay 
should make it useful for field studies, particularly in determining the
 prevalence of sandfly infection, the local level of transmission, and 
the impact of vector-control programmes.

PMID: 15848791

TITLE: Altered platelet aggregation and coagulation disorders related to
clinical findings in 30 dogs naturally infected by Leishmania infantum.

AUTHORS: P Ciaramella, A Pelagalli, L Cortese, M E Pero, M Corona, P Lombardi, L
Avallone, A Persechino

AFFILIATION: Department of Veterinary Clinical Science, Section of Internal
Medicine, University of Naples, Federico II, Via Delpino 1, 80137 Napoli,
Italy. paociara at unina.it

REFERENCE: Vet J 2005 May 169(3):465-7

PMID: 15813687

TITLE: [Clinical cases in Medical Mycology. Case No. 14]

AUTHORS: Ricardo Negroni, Alicia Arechavala, Gabriela LÃ³pez Daneri

AFFILIATION: Hospital de Infecciosas Francisco Javier MuÃ±iz, Buenos Aires,
Argentina. micologÃa at fmed.uba.ar

REFERENCE: Rev Iberoam Micol 2005 Mar 22(1):60-1

PMID: 15945169

TITLE: Prospective study among cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in Tripoli Central
Hospital, Tripoli, Libya.

AUTHORS: A A El Buni, H Edwebi, A L Ben Darif

AFFILIATION: Medical Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Faculty of
Medicine, Al-Arab Medical University, Benghazi, Libya.

REFERENCE: Arch Inst Pasteur Tunis 1997 Jan-Apr 74(1-2):3-4

One hundred and nine cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were referred to 
Dermatology unit, Tripoli Central Hospital from 24 localities in north-
west Libya during the period from September to December 1994. Clinically
 most of the lesions were multiple and distributed on the uncovered 
parts of the body, and the size ranged from 1 to 5 cm. In diameter. The 
prevalence of infection was 65.3% among age groups 1-30 year old. 
Patients responded well to the treatment with sodium stibagluconate.

REQUEST: [ leishmania ]

(11 articles match this request. 4 articles matching other requests removed)

PMID: 15950742

TITLE: Adjuvant effect of Taenia crassiceps glycans against leishmanial antigens
in mice infected with Leishmania mexicana.

AUTHORS: Senarath Dissanayake, Allen Shahin, Abdul Majeed Ameen

AFFILIATION: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, United Arab
Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

REFERENCE: Mol Immunol 2005 Aug 42(12):1495-502

Complex glycans derived from lipid, nucleic acid and protein free 
extracts of Taenia crassiceps metacestode larvae were found to have 
adjuvant effect against Leishmania mexicana antigens in BALB/c mice 
experimentally infected with L. mexicana. A single intraperitoneal or 
subcutaneous injection of Taenia glycans altered the Th-1/Th-2 balance 
in experimentally infected mice as determined by Western blot analysis 
of IgG 1 and IgG 2a antibodies to L. mexicana antigens. Leishmania 
antigens which were immunogenic in Taenia glycan vaccinated mice were 
different from those of non-vaccinated mice. Vaccination induced 
leishmania antigen specific IFN-gamma expression in vitro culture by 
spleen cells from Taenia glycan vaccinated-leishmania infected mice and 
not from mock vaccinated-leishmania infected BALB/c mice. We conclude 
that T. crassiceps glycans have immunoadjuvant effects against 
leishmania and may be developed as adjuvants in anti-leishmania vaccines.

PMID: 15939291

TITLE: Development of an inducible protein expression system based on the
protozoan host Leishmania tarentolae.

AUTHORS: Susanna Kushnir, Klaus Gase, Reinhard Breitling, Kirill Alexandrov

AFFILIATION: Department of Physical Biochemistry, Max-Planck-Institute for
Molecular Physiology, Otto-Hahn-Strasse 11, 44227 Dortmund, Germany.

REFERENCE: Protein Expr Purif 2005 Jul 42(1):37-46

Production of functional eukaryotic proteins in recombinant form is a 
bottle-neck in various post-genomic applications and in life science in 
general. At least partially this is due to the problems associated with 
the use of endogenous RNA polymerase II for high-level transcription of 
heterologous genes in eukaryotic expression systems. To circumvent these
 problems we developed a new inducible protein expression system based 
on the protozoan host Leishmania tarentolae (Trypanosomatidae). We have 
created a strain of L. tarentolae constitutively co-expressing T7 RNA 
polymerase and tetracycline repressor. This strain could be stably 
transformed with the heterologous target gene under control of the T7 
promoter/TET operator assembly, which can initiate transcription upon 
addition of tetracycline to the culture medium. Using this system, we 
demonstrated that enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) could be 
overexpressed to a level of ca. 1% of total cellular protein. The 
developed system was tested for its ability to inducibly co-express 
multiple genes. Using two copies of the egfp gene integrated at two 
different genomic sites, we could obtain expression levels reaching 4% 
of total cellular protein. Further possible improvements and 
applications of the developed system are discussed.

PMID: 15925459

TITLE: Intragenomic spliced leader RNA array analysis of kinetoplastids reveals
unexpected transcribed region diversity in Trypanosoma cruzi.

AUTHORS: Sean Thomas, Scott J Westenberger, David A Campbell, Nancy R Sturm

AFFILIATION: Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles,
CA, USA; Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David
Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

REFERENCE: Gene 2005 Jun 352():100-8

The spliced leader RNA gene (SL RNA) repeat is present in large 
multicopy arrays and has been used as a marker for the diversity of 
kinetoplastid protozoans. Intra-array variation could affect conclusions
 made using a randomly isolated repeat as a marker. We examined the 
Leishmania major (Friedlin) and Trypanosoma cruzi (CL Brener) genome 
projects for SL RNA repeat sequences in order to assess their 
homogeneity and the possible effects of sequence variation on taxonomic 
interpretation. Of the dozens of distinct sequence classes examined, no 
single copy would bias clustering analyses with regard to other closely 
related species or isolates. Six dimorphic sites within the T. cruzi 
transcribed region were found to be linked and are predicted to yield a 
heterogeneous SL RNA population. The variation that exists among the 
repeats paints a picture of the broad mechanisms of array maintenance 
and evolution where site-specific mutations in a single repeat may be 
spread throughout the array and recombined with existing repeats to 
create new sequence classes, all occurring under selective pressure to 
maintain or increase the fitness of the cell line in which these events 
occur.

PMID: 15947206

TITLE: Eukaryotic UDP-Galactopyranose Mutase (GLF Gene) in Microbial and
Metazoal Pathogens.

AUTHORS: Stephen M Beverley, Katherine L Owens, Melissa Showalter, Cara L
Griffith, Tamara L Doering, Victoria C Jones, Michael R McNeil

AFFILIATION: Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University Medical
School, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110. beverley at borcim.wustl.edu.

REFERENCE: Eukaryot Cell 2005 Jun 4(6):1147-54

Galactofuranose (Gal(f)) is a novel sugar absent in mammals but present 
in a variety of pathogenic microbes, often within glycoconjugates that 
play critical roles in cell surface formation and the infectious cycle. 
In prokaryotes, Gal(f) is synthesized as the nucleotide sugar UDP-Gal(f
) by UDP-galactopyranose mutase (UGM) (gene GLF). Here we used a 
combinatorial bioinformatics screen to identify a family of candidate 
eukaryotic GLFs that had previously escaped detection. GLFs from three 
pathogens, two protozoa (Leishmania major and Trypanosoma cruzi) and one
 fungus (Cryptococcus neoformans), had UGM activity when expressed in 
Escherichia coli and assayed in vivo and/or in vitro. Eukaryotic GLFs 
are closely related to each other but distantly related to prokaryotic 
GLFs, showing limited conservation of core residues around the substrate
-binding site and flavin adenine dinucleotide binding domain. Several 
eukaryotes not previously investigated for Gal(f) synthesis also showed 
strong GLF homologs with conservation of key residues. These included 
other fungi, the alga Chlamydomonas and the algal phleovirus Feldmannia 
irregularis, parasitic nematodes (Brugia, Onchocerca, and Strongyloides
) and Caenorhabditis elegans, and the urochordates Halocynthia and 
Cionia. The C. elegans open reading frame was shown to encode UGM 
activity. The GLF phylogenetic distribution suggests that Gal(f) 
synthesis may occur more broadly in eukaryotes than previously supposed
. Overall, GLF/Gal(f) synthesis in eukaryotes appears to occur with a 
disjunct distribution and often in pathogenic species, similar to what 
is seen in prokaryotes. Thus, UGM inhibition may provide an attractive 
drug target in those eukaryotes where Gal(f) plays critical roles in 
cellular viability and virulence.

PMID: 15886061

TITLE: Substrate preferences and glucose uptake in glibenclamide-resistant
Leishmania parasites.

AUTHORS: Nestor Luis Uzcategui, Katherine Figarella, Natacha Camacho, Alicia
Ponte-Sucre

AFFILIATION: Laboratorio de FisiologÃa Molecular, Instituto de Medicina
Experimental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas,
Venezuela.

REFERENCE: Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol 2005 Mar-Apr
140(3-4):395-402

Several drug-resistant mammalian cell types exhibit increased glycolytic
 rates, preferential synthesis of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation
, and altered glucose transport. Herein we analyzed the influence of 
parasite growth phase on energy substrate uptake and use in a Leishmania
 strain [NR(Gr)] selected for resistance against glibenclamide. 
Glibenclamide is an ABC-transporter blocker which modulates the function
 of glucose transporters in some mammalian cells. Our results 
demonstrate for the first time that compared to glibenclamide-sensitive 
Leishmania, exponential phase glibenclamide-resistant parasites exhibit 
decreased use of glucose as energy substrate, decreased glucose uptake 
and decreased glucose transporter expression. However, compared to 
glibenclamide-sensitive cells, stationary phase resistant parasites 
display an increased use of amino acids as energy substrate and an 
increased activity of the enzymes hexokinase, phosphoglucose isomerase, 
and especially NAD(+)-linked glutamate dehydrogenase. These results 
suggest that drug resistance in Leishmania involves a metabolic 
adaptation that promotes a stage dependent modulation of energy 
substrate uptake and use as a physiological response to the challenge 
imposed by drug pressure.

PMID: 15941064

TITLE: [Risk factors of leishmanin-skin test positivity in transmission of
Leishmania infantum in the center of Tunisia]

AUTHORS: A Ben Salah, N Ben Alaya Bouafif, S Chlif, A Gharbi, N Bel Haj Hamida,
A Zaatour, K Dellagi

REFERENCE: Arch Inst Pasteur Tunis 2003  80(1-4):17-27

This work aims to estimate prevalence and evaluate risk factors of 
leishmanin-skin test positivity. A cross-sectional leishmanin skin test 
study was carried out on a sample of 3190 healthy volunteers living in 
the gouvernorates of Kairouan and Kasserine. Age standardized prevalence
 of leishmanin-skin test positivity was 45.9% (CI95% = [43.9-47.9]) 
confirming the hyper endemicity of this region. The rate of leishmanin-
skin test positivity ranged from 75.9% (CI95% = [71.9-79.5]) in Zaghdoud
 (Kairouan) to 6.5% (CI95% = [3.7-11.01) in Abdeladhim (Kasserine). 
There is no significant difference between men and women suggesting a 
similar exposure to infection. In the districts of Zaghdoud, Sidi Amor, 
El Hajeb and chbika, age specific rates showed a rapid increasing 
positive prevalence with age reaching a proportion exceeding 80% after 
the age of 15 years. However, the age specific prevalence from other 
delegations showed a progressive increasing trend with age, with a low 
rate for younger children and a plateau of 75% after 45 years. 
Multivariate analysis of leishmanin-skin test positivity risk factors 
showed that only district and age are determinants of this infection.

PMID: 15941068

TITLE: [Importance of morphological study of amastigote forms to differentiate
Leishmania infantum and Leishmania major species]

AUTHORS: K Aoun, M K Chahed, M Mokni, Z Harrat, A Bouratbine

REFERENCE: Arch Inst Pasteur Tunis 2003  80(1-4):53-6

The microscopic study of the dermal smears of 62 cases of cutaneous 
leishmaniose, 27 infected by Leishmania (L.) infantum and 35 by L. major
, showed that the amastigotes of L. infantum are meaningfully smaller (p
 < 0.001). This criteria is a simple pary alternative to distinguish 
these 2 species which have completely different epidemiology, recovery 
delay and prophylactic dispositions.

REQUEST: [ sand fly ]

(1 article matches this request. 1 article matching other requests removed)

REQUEST: [ sandfly ]

(1 article matches this request. 1 article matching other requests removed)

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