A flexible synthetic route to (R)-harmonine ((R)-1), the toxic principle of the Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis (H. axyridis), via reductive olefination of the macrocyclic lactone (S)-5, is reported. High enantiomeric purity is achieved by enantioselective saponification of the lactone rac-5 with horse liver esterase. Minor modifications in the synthetic route give access to racemic and chi...

CBA/J mice are resistant to Leishmania major infection but are permissive to L. amazonensis infection. In addition, CBA/J macrophages control L. major but not L. amazonensis infection in vitro. Phagocytosis by macrophages is known to determine the outcome of Leishmania infection. Pattern recognition receptors (PRR) adorning antigen presenting cell surfaces are known to coordinate the link betwe...

introduction: gp63 is a major surface protease of leishmania promastigotes that plays an important role in its virulance. as gp63 on its own can not develop an effective protection against leishmaniasis, the goal of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of gp63 conjugated with tetanus toxoid (tt) and vitamin d3 in susceptible balb/c mice against cutaneous leishmaniasis. methods: this...

We have assessed the phylogenetic status of the Leishmania genome project Friedlin reference strain by MLEE and multiprimer RAPD including a set of 9 stocks representative of the main Leishmania species and of the whole genetic diversity of the Leishmania genus. To our knowledge, the detailed genetic characterization of the Friedlin strain has never been published before. As previously recorded...

BACKGROUND Human leishmaniasis is caused by more than 20 Leishmania species and has a wide range of symptoms. Our recent studies have demonstrated the essential role of sphingolipid degradation in the virulence of Leishmania (Leishmania) major, a species responsible for localized cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Old World. In this study, we investigated the function of sphingolipid degradation in...

This study evaluates cross-immunity in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) previously infected with one species of Leishmania and have had self-cured disease or were cured by antimony-based therapy upon development of full-blown disease. We found that a self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) following experimental infection with Leishmania (Leishmania) major induces significant protection for L....

We evaluated whether four recombinant antigens previously used for vaccination against experimental infection with Leishmania (Leishmania) major could also induce protective immunity against a challenge with Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, the species responsible for 90% of the 28,712 annual cases of cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis recorded in Brazil during the year of 2004. Initia...

Comparative genome analysis of recently sequenced Leishmania (L.) donovani was unexplored so far. The present study deals with the complete scanning of L. (L.) donovani genome revealing its interspecies variations. 60 distinctly present genes in L. (L.) donovani were identified when the whole genome was compared with Leishmania (L.) infantum. Similarly 72, 159, and 265 species specific genes we...

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most important parasitic diseases in humans. In this disease, one of the responsible organisms is Leishmania major, which is transmitted by sandfly vector. There are specific differences in biochemical profiles and metabolite pathways in logarithmic and stationary phases of Leishmania parasites. In the present study, 1H NMR spectroscopy was used...

the aim of this study was to prepare a new formula of leishmania major (l. major) crude antigen and evaluate its effect on immune system. for this purpose l. major promastigotes were cultured, harvested, washed, and resuspended in physiologic saline and the suspensions were dispersed in five equal batches. 0.1 ml of various doses of the cocktail antigen were injected intradermaly in three group...