Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important parasitic diseases with approximately 350 million people at risk. Due to the non availability of an ideal drug, development of a safe, effective, and affordable vaccine could be a solution for control and prevention of this disease. In this study, a potential Th1 stimulatory protein- Triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), a glycolytic enzyme, ...

Promastigotes of the protozoan parasite Leishmania are inoculated into the mammalian host by an infected sandfly and are phagocytosed by macrophages. There, they differentiate into amastigotes, which replicate in phagolysosomes. A family of glycoconjugates, the phosphoglycans (PGs), plays an important role in the ability of promastigotes to survive the potentially microbicidal consequences of p...

Whether cutaneous leishmaniasis exists in China is a problem of concern in the international field of parasitology. Zhang and Hu (1983) found a girl aged 15 with mild hepatomegaly and cutaneous ulcer on her right cheek in Shawan County of Xinj­ iang; Leishmania was detected in both the exudates and biopsy tissues, but the parasite was not detected in a bone marrow smear. Notwithstanding the fac...

capture elisa system was developed for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (vl) using a monoclonal antibody raised against an antigen previously detected in the urine of vl patients. urine samples from confirmed vl cases from yemen, nepal, spain, sudan and brazil were tested in the capture elisa in comparison with urine samples from endemic and non-endemic areas along with urine samples from pa...

Received: Revised: Accepted: November 16, 2013 May 11, 2014 May 30, 2014 The canine is regarded as a reservoir host for human visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean regions. Ten golden jackals were captured from villages that belong to Basrah province, south of Iraq. The animals were inoculated experimentally with human case Leishmania donovani promastigotes, and then the jackals were diag...

Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus. Previous studies have shown that a DNA vaccine encoding Leishmania donovani antigen nucleoside hydrolase 36 and L. mexicana glycoprotein 63 is protective in mice. We investigated here the efficacy of this DNA vaccine to induce protection in golden hamsters. Male hamsters were more susceptible to infectio...

Transgenic Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani axenic promastigotes constitutively expressing mCherry were used for in vitro antileishmanial drug screening. This method requires minimal sample manipulation and can be easily adapted to automatic drug tests, allowing primary high-throughput screenings without the need for expensive and sophisticated instruments.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a widely spread zoonotic disease. In Brazil the disease is caused by Leishmania (Leishmania)infantum chagasi. Peridomestic sandflies acquire the etiological agent by feeding on blood of infected reservoir animals, such as dogs or wildlife. The disease is endemic in Brazil and epidemic foci have been reported in densely populated cities all over the country. Many c...

Leishmania donovani in India causes visceral infection (kala-azar) and dermal infection (post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis). We report here the identification of polymorphism in a well-defined genetic locus among the Leishmania parasites causing the visceral and dermal manifestations, in a comparison of 15 post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis and 12 kala-azar patient isolates.

Dendritic cells can initiate antimicrobial responses by CD1-mediated presentation of pathogen-derived glycolipids. We show that the protozoan Leishmania donovani inhibits CD1 expression and prevents activation of CD1-restricted T cells by dendritic cells. Evasion of presentation by CD1 may represent a Leishmania survival strategy to avoid recognition of abundant parasite glycolipids.