The Leishmania species cause a variety of human disease syndromes. Methods for diagnosis and species differentiation are insensitive and many require invasive sampling. Although quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods are reported for leishmania detection, no systematic method to quantify parasites and determine the species in clinical specimens is established. We developed a serial qPCR strategy to id...

cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most important parasitic diseases, which are endemic in different parts of iran.   leishmania major and l. tropica are the primary causative agents of this disease. the aim of the present study was to detect the multiple forms of l. major in lung. ppromastigotes of l. major at stationary phase were injected to balb/c mice. after 60 days, the different forms...

DC-SIGN (dendritic cell-specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3-grabbing nonintegrin) binds human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and facilitates transfer of virus to permissive cells. Leishmania parasites also exploit DC-SIGN as a receptor. Here, we report that transfer of HIV-1 to target cells is markedly reduced when DC-SIGN(+) cells are preincubated with Leishmania amastigotes befo...

The kinetoplastid protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of different clinical forms of leishmaniasis, a vector-borne infectious disease with worldwide prevalence. The protective host immune response against Leishmania parasites relies on myeloid cells such as dendritic cells and macrophages in which upon stimulation by cytokines (e.g., interferon-γ) a co...

American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis is caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania, and causes significant health problems throughout the Americas. In Panama, Leishmania parasites are endemic, causing thousands of new cases every year, mostly of the cutaneous form. In the last years, the burden of the disease has increased, coincident with increasing disturbances in its natural sylvatic environm...

BACKGROUND Cytochrome P450s (CYP450s) are hemoproteins catalysing diverse biochemical reactions important for metabolism of xenobiotics and synthesis of physiologically important compounds such as sterols. Therefore, they are functionally important for survival of invading pathogens. One such opportunistic pathogen Leishmania donovani causes visceral leishmaniasis worldwide, which is an importa...

genus leishmania is a protozoan parasite that causes different severe diseases. fetal calf serum (fcs) is the major part of the leishmania culture media, for mass cultivation and the most expensive ingredient in these media. in the present work, the efficacy of chicken serum was evaluated in leishmania culture media. the results indicated that, the (10%) chicken serum enriched culture medium su...

In the present work we examined the effect of ion transport blockers on the growth and viability of Leishmania sp. and on the infection of macrophages by the parasite. 4-aminopyridine and glibenclamide block voltage-dependent and K+ ATP channels, respectively; amiloride is used to detect Na+ channels and Na+/H+ antiporters; and anthracene-9-carboxylic acid affects chloride channels. The EC50 fo...

Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoan Leishmania parasites that are transmitted through female sandfly bites. The disease is predominantly endemic to the tropics and semi-tropics and has been reported in more than 98 countries. Due to the side effects of anti-Leishmania drugs and the emergence of drug-resistant isolates, there is currently no encouraging prospect of introducing an effective ther...