LEISHMANIASIS  

Some Selected Abstracts:

1.

1.       Oliveira JG, Novais FO, de Oliveira CI, da Cruz Junior AC, Campos LF, da Rocha AV, Boaventura V, Noronha A, Costa JM, Barral A. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is highly sensitive for diagnosis of mucosal leishmaniasis. Acta Trop. 2005 Apr;94(1):55-9

Fundacao Hospital do Acre, Distrito Industrial, Rio Branco, Brazil.

We evaluated the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for diagnosis of mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) in an endemic area in Acre, Brazil, where Leishmania braziliensis is present. Leishmania DNA was detected 34 of 35 cases, yielding a positivity rate of 97.1%, which was higher than the positivity rates for all of the other diagnostic methods studied, namely Montenegro skin test (MST), anti-Leishmania serological testing and microscopic examination of lesion biopsy specimens. These findings have led us to propose guidelines for the diagnosis of ML that use PCR as the principal method of parasitological confirmation of cases.

2. 

Vergel C, Walker J, Saravia NG Amplification of human DNA by primers targeted to Leishmania kinetoplast DNA and post-genome considerations in the detection of parasites by a polymerase chain reaction. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Apr;72(4):423-9.

Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Medicas, Cali, Colombia. carover@cideim.org.co carover@cideim.org.co

We evaluated the Leishmania Viannia-specific primers B1-B2 to detect Leishmania in normal skin and peripheral blood monocytes of patients with active cutaneous leishmaniasis. Southern blotting and sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products confirmed the specificity of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) amplification from tissue fluid from healthy skin, whereas the PCR with monocytes also amplified a human sequence of a size similar (718 basepairs) to the expected kDNA product (750 basepairs), resulting in false-positive results. Although B1 was not homologous to any human DNA sequence, B2 showed homology to a human chromosome 2 intergenic region (AC010878) at positions 35,881-36,599, which are spaced 718 nucleotides apart. Amplification of the human artifact from monocyte DNA was confirmed using the primer B2 alone. Examination of other primers reported for the PCR of kDNA from various species of Leishmania showed that six of seven were homologous to human DNA sequences. These findings underscore the importance of exploiting sequencing, bioinformatics, and DNA probes to refine molecular amplification techniques and to validate the performance of primers when used for new applications.

Diagnosis, Diagnostics, Immunodiagnosis & Immunodiagnostics:  

 12733.  Eidsmo L, Nylen S, Khamesipour A, Hedblad MA, Chiodi F, Akuffo H. The contribution of the Fas/FasL apoptotic pathway in ulcer formation during Leishmania major-induced cutaneous Leishmaniasis. Am J Pathol. 2005 Apr;166(4):1099-108.

12734.  Oliveira JG, Novais FO, de Oliveira CI, da Cruz Junior AC, Campos LF, da Rocha AV, Boaventura V, Noronha A, Costa JM, Barral A. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is highly sensitive for diagnosis of mucosal leishmaniasis. Acta Trop. 2005 Apr;94(1):55-9.

12735. Sinha PK, Pandey K, Bhattacharya SK. Diagnosis & management of leishmania/HIV co-infection. Indian J Med Res. 2005 Apr;121(4):407-14. Review.

12736. Vergel C, Walker J, Saravia NG. Amplification of human DNA by primers targeted to Leishmania kinetoplast DNA and post-genome considerations in the detection of parasites by a polymerase chain reaction. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Apr;72(4):423-9.

Pathogenesis:

12737.  Bader KA, Schnur LF, Nasereddin A, Pratlong F, Dedet JP, Shaheen L, Yousef O, Greenblatt CL. Palestinian infantile visceral leishmaniasis caused by a genetic variant of Leishmania infantum belonging to a new zymodeme. Trop Med Int Health. 2005 Jun;10(6):618-20.

12738.  Bal AM. Visceral leishmaniasis--an opportunistic infection in HIV-infected patients. Lancet Infect Dis. 2005 Apr;5(4):196-7; discussion 197.

12739.  Coler RN, Reed SG. Second-generation vaccines against leishmaniasis. Trends Parasitol. 2005 May;21(5):244-9. Review.

12740.  Garg R, Gupta SK, Tripathi P, Naik S, Sundar S, Dube A. Immunostimulatory cellular responses of cured Leishmania-infected patients and hamsters against the integral membrane proteins and non-membranous soluble proteins of a recent clinical isolate of Leishmania donovani. Clin Exp Immunol. 2005 Apr;140(1):149-56.

12741.  Jorquera A, Gonzalez R, Marchan-Marcano E, Oviedo M, Matos M. Multiplex-PCR for detection of natural Leishmania infection in Lutzomyia spp. captured in an endemic region for cutaneous leishmaniasis in state of Sucre, Venezuela. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2005 Feb;100(1):45-8.

12742.  Murray HW. Prevention of relapse after chemotherapy in a chronic intracellular infection: mechanisms in experimental visceral leishmaniasis. J Immunol. 2005 Apr 15;174(8):4916-23.

Vaccines:

12743.  Mazumdar T, Anam K, Ali N. Influence of phospholipid composition on the adjuvanticity and protective efficacy of liposome-encapsulated Leishmania donovani antigens. J Parasitol. 2005 Apr;91(2):269-74.

Therapy:

12744.  Hartzell JD, Aronson N. Case 4-2005: sodium stibogluconate for cutaneous leishmaniasis. N Engl J Med. 2005 May 5;352(18):1929.

12745.  Sundar S, Murray HW. Availability of miltefosine for the treatment of kala-azar in India. Bull World Health Organ. 2005 May;83(5):394-5.

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