Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| structurally diverse 5-substituted pyrimidine nucleosides as inhibitors of leishmania donovani promastigotes in vitro. | the following structurally diverse 5-substituted-2'-deoxyuridine nucleosides displayed potent in vitro antileishmanial activity: 5-formyl, 5-(2,2,-dicyanovinyl)-, 5-(2-cyano-2-ethoxycarbonylvinyl), 5-(2-cyano-2-methoxycarbonylvinyl)-, 5-(2-amino-3-cyano-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4h-chromen-4-yl)- and related congeners, and the 5-(3-methyl-5-oxo-1-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-4h-pyrazol-4-ylidene) group. | 2006 | 16879965 |
| antileishmanial activity of natural diterpenes from cistus sp. and semisynthetic derivatives thereof. | eleven cis-clerodane diterpenes, seven labdane type diterpenes and one triterpene isolated from cistus monspeliensis and the resin "ladano" of cistus creticus subsp. creticus were evaluated against leishmania donovani promastigotes, the causative agent for visceral leishmaniasis. in addition, eleven semisynthetic manoyl oxide, seventeen labdane type derivatives and a triterpene were also evaluated for their antileishmanial activity. 18-acetoxy-cis-clerod-3-en-15-ol, 15,18-diacetoxy-cis-clerod-3- ... | 2006 | 16880643 |
| antiprotozoal and cytotoxic naphthalene derivatives from diospyros assimilis. | chemical investigation of the roots of diospyros assimilis had led to the isolation and characterization of six naphthalene derivatives, two 2-naphthaldehyes, namely 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-2-naphthaldehyde 1, 4-hydroxy-5-methoxy-2-naphthaldehye 2, its related isomer 5-hydroxy-4-methoxy-2-naphthaldehyde 3 and three commonly occurring naphthoquinones, diospyrin 4, 8'-hydroxyisodiospyrin 5 and the simple monomer, plumbagin 6. their chemical structures were established by detailed nmr investigation ... | 2006 | 16890968 |
| photoinactivation of leishmania donovani infantum in red cell suspensions by a flexible thiopyrylium sensitizer. | leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus leishmania, which are intracellular parasites of monocytes and macrophages. transmission of the organism has been observed by transfusion of infected blood from asymptomatic donors to immunocompromised recipients, leading to clinically apparent disease. there is no licensed leishmania screening test currently available. | 2006 | 16907880 |
| transfusion transmitted leishmaniasis: a case report and review of literature. | leishmaniasis is caused by the infection of haemoparasite leishmania . the disease is a major public health problem in at least 88 countries, including india. various species of leishmania are involved in causing this disease. in india, leishmania donovani species causes visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar. the parasite is mainly transmitted from infected to uninfected person through the bites of female sandfly. rarely the parasite can transmit through placenta from mother to child, through sexu ... | 2006 | 16912434 |
| beta-mercaptoethanol-modified elisa for diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. | following antigen preparation procedures similar to those of the direct agglutination test (dat), an igg elisa employing intact beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-me)-treated leishmania donovani promastigotes was developed. the performance of the beta-me elisa thus developed was assessed in patients with confirmed visceral leishmaniasis (vl), revealing slightly lower sensitivity (39/40=97.5%) than that of the dat (40/40=100%). when challenged with sera of individuals with non-vl conditions, including le ... | 2006 | 16914648 |
| [antileishmanial activity of five 2- or 3- quinolines by enyne group]. | leishmaniasis is an emergent orphan disease because of its co-infection with hiv aids. we report herein the in vitro biological evalution of five news quinolines, 2- or 3- substituted by an enyne group against leishmania donovani (mhom/et/l82/lv9). | 2006 | 16924841 |
| [visceral leishmaniasis--surgical aspects]. | visceral leishmaniasis is a multi-organic parasitic disease caused by an intracellular protozoon named leishmania donovani; the mean signs are: weight loss, cough, fever, hepatosplenomegaly, adenopathy and cutaneous lesions; death without treatment is the rule. the main treatment is a conservative one. surgical treatment is necessary for complications, especially for those intra-abdominally. we wish to present a young female patient who underwent two subsequent interventions due to an unclear di ... | 2006 | 16927925 |
| single-step duplex kdna-pcr for detection of leishmania donovani complex in human peripheral blood samples. | a duplex polymerase chain reaction (pcr) assay was performed using a sense leishmania genus-specific oligonucleotides to amplify the conserved region of 120 bp of minicircle kdna and an additional antisense leishmania donovani oligonucleotide that amplifies a complex-specific fragment of 90 bp. all 12 tested reference isolates of the l. donovani complex yielded a complex-specific amplification product of 90 bp concurrently with a genus-specific 120-bp product. all 17 tested reference isolates pe ... | 2006 | 16935456 |
| the schistosoma mansoni hepatic egg granuloma provides a favorable microenvironment for sustained growth of leishmania donovani. | parasitic co-infections are prevalent in many parts of the world. however, relatively little is known about how an underlying infection may impact on the host's ability to control a newly acquired parasite, especially if both infect the same organ. we have studied this using an experimental co-infection model in c57bl/6 mice involving schistosoma mansoni and leishmania donovani, two important human pathogens affecting the liver. we show that mice with established s. mansoni infections fail to co ... | 2006 | 16936268 |
| a conditional mutant deficient in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase validates the purine salvage pathway of leishmania donovani. | leishmania donovani cannot synthesize purines de novo and express a multiplicity of enzymes that enable them to salvage purines from their hosts. previous efforts to generate an l. donovani strain deficient in both hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase (hgprt) and xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (xprt) using gene replacement approaches were not successful, lending indirect support to the hypothesis that either hgprt or xprt is crucial for purine salvage by the parasite. we now repor ... | 2006 | 16603734 |
| leishmania donovani: effect of verapamil on in vitro susceptibility of promastigote and amastigote stages of indian clinical isolates to sodium stibogluconate. | although pentavalent antimonials are the first-line drug for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis all over the world, yet, in india, increasing number of patients are being reported to be unresponsive to sodium stibogluconate. verapamil, a calcium channel blocker, affects drug uptake by preventing its efflux and thereby accumulation within the cell. in the present study, effect of verapamil on in vitro susceptibility of both promastigote and amastigote stages of 15 clinical isolates and standard ... | 2006 | 16616137 |
| seroepidemiological survey on canine leishmaniasis among dogs from an urban area of brazil. | a cross-sectional seroepidemiological survey on canine leishmaniasis among pet dogs was carried out in an urban area in the state of pernambuco (brazil) where human cases of visceral leishmaniasis have sporadically been reported. using an indirect fluorescent antibody test, anti-leishmania antibodies were detected in 130 out of 322 dogs, confirming previous exposure to leishmania parasites. the overall seroprevalence found was 40.3% (95% confidence interval: 34.9-45.9). data analysis revealed th ... | 2006 | 16621286 |
| loss of dendritic cell migration and impaired resistance to leishmania donovani infection in mice deficient in ccl19 and ccl21. | the encounter between apc and t cells is crucial for initiating immune responses to infectious microorganisms. in the spleen, interaction between dendritic cells (dc) and t cells occurs in the periarteriolar lymphoid sheath (pals) into which dc and t cells migrate from the marginal zone (mz) along chemokine gradients. however, the importance of dc migration from the mz into the pals for immune responses and host resistance to microbial infection has not yet been elucidated. in this study, we rep ... | 2006 | 16622017 |
| reduced nitric oxide synthase 2 (nos2) promoter activity in the syrian hamster renders the animal functionally deficient in nos2 activity and unable to control an intracellular pathogen. | progressive disease in the hamster model of visceral leishmaniasis, caused by leishmania donovani, in contrast to infection in mice, mimics the progressive disease observed in untreated humans. during progressive infection in hamsters, there was a vigorous type 1 cellular immune response, which is typically associated with control of infection, suggesting that there was ineffective ifn-gamma-mediated macrophage activation. indeed, at the site of infection, hamsters did not express no synthase 2 ... | 2006 | 16622021 |
| leishmania donovani requires functional cdc42 and rac1 to prevent phagosomal maturation. | leishmania donovani promastigotes survive inside macrophage phagosomes by inhibiting phagosomal maturation. the main surface glycoconjugate on promastigotes, lipophosphoglycan (lpg), is crucial for survival and mediates the formation of a protective shell of f-actin around the phagosome. previous studies have demonstrated that this effect involves inhibition of protein kinase c alpha. the present study shows that functional cdc42 and rac1 are required for the formation of f-actin around l. donov ... | 2006 | 16622197 |
| immunotherapy against visceral leishmaniasis with the nucleoside hydrolase-dna vaccine of leishmania donovani. | the nucleoside hydrolase (nh36) of leishmania (l.) donovani is a vital enzyme which releases purines or pyrimidines of foreign dna to be used in the synthesis of parasite dna. as a bivalent dna vaccine, the vr1012-nh36 was immunoprotective against visceral and cutaneous murine leishmaniasis. in this work we tested the immunotherapy against leishmania (l.) chagasi infection, using two doses of 100 or 20 microg vr1012-nh36 vaccine (i.m. route), and, as a possible immunomodulator, aqueous garlic ex ... | 2006 | 16635538 |
| sodium antimony gluconate induces generation of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide via phosphoinositide 3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation in leishmania donovani-infected macrophages. | pentavalent antimony complexes, such as sodium stibogluconate and sodium antimony gluconate (sag), are still the first choice for chemotherapy against various forms of leishmaniasis, including visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar. although the requirement of a somewhat functional immune system for the antileishmanial action of antimony was reported previously, the cellular and molecular mechanism of action of sag was not clear. herein, we show that sag induces extracellular signal-regulated kina ... | 2006 | 16641451 |
| pre-systemic metabolism prevents in vivo antikinetoplastid activity of n1,n4-substituted 3,5-dinitro sulfanilamide, gb-ii-150. | we previously showed that n1-phenyl-3,5-dinitro-n4,n4-di-n-butylsulfanilamide (denoted gb-ii-150) possesses selective antimicrotubule activity against leishmania donovani and trypanosoma brucei in vitro [bhattacharya, g., herman, j., delfin, d., salem, m.m., barszcz, t., mollet, m., riccio, g., brun, r., werbovetz, k.a., 2004. synthesis and antitubulin activity of n(1)- and n(4)-substituted 3,5-dinitro sulfanilamides against african trypanosomes and leishmania. journal of medicinal chemistry 47, ... | 2006 | 16643960 |
| antikinetoplastid antimitotic activity and metabolic stability of dinitroaniline sulfonamides and benzamides. | n(1)-phenyl-3,5-dinitro-n(4),n(4)-di-n-propylsulfanilamide (1) and n(1)-phenyl-3,5-dinitro-n(4),n(4)-di-n-butylsulfanilamide (2) show potent in vitro antimitotic activity against kinetoplastid parasites but display poor in vivo activity. seventeen new dinitroaniline sulfonamide and eleven new benzamide analogs of these leads are reported here. nine of the sulfonamides display in vitro ic(50) values under 500 nm against african trypanosomes, and the most active antikinetoplastid compounds also in ... | 2006 | 16675220 |
| use of pcr-rflp to identify leishmania species in naturally-infected dogs. | tissue imprints on giemsa stained slides from dogs were used to investigate the presence of leishmania amastigotes by either optical microscopy (om) or polymerase chain reaction (pcr) detection of dna. samples from skin, spleen, lymph node, liver and bone marrow from a leishmaniasis endemic area dogs where leishmania (leishmania) chagasi and leishmania (viannia) braziliensis are sympatric were studied. dogs were initially diagnosed by indirect immunofluorescence (iif), as which 39 were iif posit ... | 2006 | 16682124 |
| expression of a mitochondrial peroxiredoxin prevents programmed cell death in leishmania donovani. | leishmania promastigote cells transmitted by the insect vector get phagocytosed by macrophages and convert into the amastigote form. during development and transformation, the parasites are exposed to various concentrations of reactive oxygen species, which can induce programmed cell death (pcd). we show that a mitochondrial peroxiredoxin (ldmprx) protects leishmania donovani from pcd. whereas this peroxiredoxin is restricted to the kinetoplast area in promastigotes, it covers the entire mitocho ... | 2006 | 16682463 |
| leishmania-hiv co-infection: an emerging problem in india. | 2006 | 16691082 | |
| chemotherapy of leishmaniasis part iii: synthesis and bioevaluation of novel aryl substituted terpenyl pyrimidines as antileishmanial agents. | some aryl substituted terpenyl pyrimidines 4 (a-p) have been synthesized using novel synthetic methods. the compounds were screened for in vitro antileishmanial activity against promastigotes. compounds 4c, 4i and 4l showed ic(50) values as 35, 35 and 25 microg ml(-1). | 2006 | 16697490 |
| turkish freshwater and marine macrophyte extracts show in vitro antiprotozoal activity and inhibit fabi, a key enzyme of plasmodium falciparum fatty acid biosynthesis. | the ethanolic extracts of a number of turkish freshwater macrophytes (potamogeton perfoliatus, ranunculus tricophyllus and cladophora glomerata) and marine macroalgae (dictyota dichotoma, halopteris scoparia, posidonia oceanica, scinaia furcellata, sargassum natans and ulva lactuca) were assayed for their in vitro antiprotozoal activity. trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, trypanosoma cruzi, leishmania donovani and plasmodium falciparum were used as test organisms. the cytotoxicity of the extracts w ... | 2006 | 16697632 |
| parasite glycoconjugates. part 16: synthesis of a disaccharide and phosphorylated di- and tri-saccharides from leishmania lipophosphoglycan. | a neutral disaccharide beta-d-galp-(1-->4)-alpha-d-manp and phosphorylated di- and tri-saccharides beta-d-galp-(1-->3)-[h(2)po(3)-6]-beta-d-galp-o[ch(2)](8)chch(2) and beta-d-galp-(1-->3)-[h(2)po(3)-6]-beta-d-galp-(1-->4)-alpha-d-manp, which are fragments of the phosphoglycan portion of the surface lipophosphoglycan from leishmania donovani (the disaccharide) or leishmania major (all three compounds), were prepared and used as tlc standards to help the identification and differentiation of the e ... | 2006 | 16697981 |
| canine visceral leishmaniasis, united states and canada, 2000-2003. | visceral leishmaniasis, caused by protozoa of the genus leishmania donovani complex, is a vectorborne zoonotic infection that infects humans, dogs, and other mammals. in 2000, this infection was implicated as causing high rates of illness and death among foxhounds in a kennel in new york. a serosurvey of >12,000 foxhounds and other canids and 185 persons in 35 states and 4 canadian provinces was performed to determine geographic extent, prevalence, host range, and modes of transmission within fo ... | 2006 | 16704782 |
| leishmania donovani: intracellular atp level regulates apoptosis-like death in luteolin induced dyskinetoplastid cells. | leishmaniasis presents a spectrum of diseases ranging from benign cutaneous lesions to the often-fatal visceralizing form. luteolin, a dietary flavone induces apoptosis-like death in both promastigote and amastigote forms of leishmania, the causative agent of the diseases. here, we have elucidated the mechanism of action of luteolin by analyzing the mitochondrial and cytosolic changes associated with apoptosis-like death of leishmanial cells. in leishmania donovani, treatment with luteolin induc ... | 2006 | 16707127 |
| peroxisome is a reservoir of intracellular calcium. | we have examined fura 2-loaded purified peroxisomes under confocal microscope to prove that this mammalian organelle is a store of intracellular calcium pool. presence of calcium channel and vanadate sensitive ca(2+)-atpase in the purified peroxisomal membrane has been demonstrated. we have further observed that machineries to maintain calcium pool in this mammalian organelle are impaired during infection caused by leishmania donovani. results reveal that peroxisomes have a merit to play a signi ... | 2006 | 16713100 |
| leishmania donovani: an in vitro study of antimony-resistant amphotericin b-sensitive isolates. | drug sensitivity of clinically antimony-unresponsive leishmania donovani isolates from eastern sudan was evaluated in an in vitro culture system against sodium stibogluconate (pentostam) and amphotericin b. eight isolates, six from antimony-resistant and two from clinically responsive patients were included in the study. parasites were tested as promastigotes and four of them were selected to be tested as amastigotes using a murine macrophage-like cell line. the results indicated that the conven ... | 2006 | 16716301 |
| a sphingolipid rich lipid fraction isolated from attenuated leishmania donovani promastigote induces apoptosis in mouse and human melanoma cells in vitro. | lipids, especially sphingolipids, are emerging as inducer of apoptosis in a wide range of immortal cells, potentiating their therapeutic application in cancer. in the present study, a sphingolipid rich lipid fraction (denoted here as all), isolated from an attenuated strain of leishmania donovani promastigote, was tested for its tumoricidal activity taking melanoma, the dreaded form of skin cancer cells, as model. all was found to induce chromatin condensation, internucleosomal dna fragmentation ... | 2006 | 16718368 |
| chronic heat-shock treatment driven differentiation induces apoptosis in leishmania donovani. | the present study investigates the role of apoptosis in the regulation of cell numbers of leishmania donovani during the in vitro differentiation of promastigote stage to amastigote stage in axenic conditions. we report that apoptosis is induced in leishmania donovani due to chronic heat-shock treatment of 37 ( degrees )c that also mediates the differentiation of promastigotes to amastigotes. this is characterized by the fragmentation of dna, blebbing in the parasite cell membrane, nuclear conde ... | 2006 | 16718376 |
| burkitt lymphoma and leishmaniasis in the same tissue sample in an aids patient. | 2006 | 16722944 | |
| towards multilocus sequence typing of the leishmania donovani complex: resolving genotypes and haplotypes for five polymorphic metabolic enzymes (asat, gpi, nh1, nh2, pgd). | multilocus enzyme electrophoresis is the gold standard for identification of leishmania species and strains. drawbacks include: only amino acid polymorphisms affecting electrophoretic mobility are detected; distinct allozymes can have coincident mobilities; few characters are available; and parasites must be cultured in bulk. so far, thousands of leishmania strains have been phenotyped by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. here, we sequence enzyme-coding genes to provide a pcr-based higher resol ... | 2006 | 16725143 |
| hemophagocytic syndrome associated with visceral leishmaniasis. | the present paper reports a case of 6-year-old male child, suffering from pallor, fever and hepatosplenomegaly. a clinical diagnosis of enteric fever with a second possibility of malaria was considered. laboratory findings included bicytopenia, hyperbilirubinemia and raised liver enzymes. bone marrow examination revealed active hemophagocytosis. on extensive search few amastigote forms of leishmania donovani were seen. patient was negative for other viral, bacterial and malaria infections. the f ... | 2006 | 16741336 |
| rab5b localization to early endosomes in the protozoan human pathogen leishmania donovani. | leishmania donovani is a primitive trypanosomatid pathogen of humans. this protozoan is apically polarized such that the flagellar reservoir, the exclusive site of endocytosis and exocytosis, is situated at the anterior end. recent evidence for the existence of an endocytic pathway in leishmania has prompted us to investigate candidate temporal markers for endocytosis. in this study we identify the l. donovani rab5b gene, and demonstrate the localization of a rab5b chimera to early endosomes. a ... | 2006 | 16752082 |
| responses to leishmania donovani in mice deficient in both phagocyte oxidase and inducible nitric oxide synthase. | mice deficient in phagocyte oxidase (phox) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (inos), which are primary macrophage killing mechanisms, generated tissue granulomas but showed unrestrained leishmania donovani visceral replication and suboptimal initial responsiveness to antimony treatment. nevertheless, visceral infection was controlled post-treatment and did not recur. a phox/inos-independent macrophage mechanism, which was not triggered by l. donovani, emerges after chemotherapy. | 2006 | 16760512 |
| leishmania in sle mimicking an exacerbation. | systemic lupus erythematosus is a protean disease which may present manifestations that resemble other diseases posing serious problems of differential diagnosis. visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection, endemic in 88 countries, whose hallmarks may mimic a lupus flare. fever, pancytopenia, splenomegaly, hypergammaglobulinemia, production of autoantibodies and complement consumption are some of the overlapping features between the two diseases. thus, extra attention must be paid to patien ... | 2006 | 16762157 |
| comprehensive examination of charged intramembrane residues in a nucleoside transporter. | permeases of the equilibrative nucleoside transporter family mediate the uptake of nucleosides and/or nucleobases in a diverse array of eukaryotes and transport a host of drugs used for treatment of cancer, heart disease, aids, and parasitic infections. to identify residues that play central roles in transport function, we have systematically substituted by site-directed mutagenesis all the charged residues located within predicted transmembrane domains of the leishmania donovani nucleoside tran ... | 2006 | 16769726 |
| critical evaluation of the therapeutic potential of bassic acid incorporated in oil-in-water microemulsions and poly-d,l-lactide nanoparticles against experimental leishmaniasis. | bassic acid, an unsaturated triterpene acid isolated from mimusops elangii, was tested for its antileishmanial properties both in vitro and in vivo. the in vitro antileishmanial activity of bassic acid being encouraging, its activity in vivo was evaluated in hamster models of visceral leishmaniasis, both in free form, as well as incorporated in two different delivery systems, viz microemulsions and polylactide nanoparticles. the delivery systems were prepared by published protocols. the percenta ... | 2006 | 16777677 |
| glycobiology of leishmania donovani. | leishmania donovani, the causative organism of visceral leishmaniasis (vl) is one of the deadliest of the entire known leishmania species. this protozoan parasite displays immense adaptability to survive under extremely harsh conditions. cell surface glycoconjugates play a pivotal role in parasite virulence and infectivity. this review mainly highlights on the importance of these molecules and their reported roles with special emphasis on l. donovani sialobiology. the recently evolved informatio ... | 2006 | 16778305 |
| topoisomerase research of kinetoplastid parasite leishmania, with special reference to development of therapeutics. | protozoan parasites of the order kinetoplastida cause severe diseases primarily in the tropical and subtropical areas. the enormous development of molecular and cellular biology in recent times have provided opportunities for discovering newer molecular targets for drug designing, which now form a rational basis for the development of improved anti-parasitic therapy. dna topoisomerases play a key role in cellular processes affecting the topology and organization of intracellular dna. recently, e ... | 2006 | 16778306 |
| visceral leishmaniasis in the new world & africa. | visceral leishmaniasis in the new world, primarily found in northeastern brazil, is caused by leishmania chagasi. compared to india, unusual features of brazilian disease are the large number of asymptomatic infections versus symptomatic infections, and the apparent change from a zoonotic disease to a partially anthroponotic one. visceral disease in africa is caused by l. donovani as in india, but disease differs from that in india in being zoonotic rather than anthroponotic, and in the large nu ... | 2006 | 16778311 |
| challenges in the diagnosis of post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. | post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl) is a dermatosis that occurs as a sequel of visceral leishmaniasis (vl). elimination of vl requires detection and treatment of pkdl, necessarily because of its capacity to serve as a reservoir for the causative parasite, leishmania donovani. diagnosis of pkdl presents a challenge due to low parasite burden in the lesions. in this article we have reviewed the recent advances in the development of immunological and molecular methods for diagnosis of pkdl. | 2006 | 16778312 |
| visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar): challenges ahead. | indian visceral leishmaniasis (vl) is a parasitic disease caused by a haemoflagellete leishmania donovani and transmitted by the bite of sand fly phlebotomus argentipes. it affects various age groups. in india about 1,00,000 cases of vl are estimated to occur annually; of these, the state of bihar accounts for over than 90 per cent of the cases. diagnosis of vl typically relies on microscopic examination of tissue smears but serology and molecular methods are better alternatives currently. notwi ... | 2006 | 16778314 |
| childhood visceral leishmaniasis. | visceral leishmaniasis (vl) is caused by the protozoan parasite leishmania donovani and transmitted by the bite of infected sandfly phlebotomus argentipes. nearly half of the vl cases occur in children (childhood or paediatric vl). the clinical manifestations of childhood vl are more or less same as in the adults. prolonged fever with anorexia and loss of appetite are the major presenting features. marked enlargement of the spleen and liver (spleen larger than liver) with moderate to severe anae ... | 2006 | 16778316 |
| drug unresponsiveness & combination therapy for kala-azar. | pentavalent antimonials (sbv) have been successfully used for treatment of kala-azar since last six decades. since 1970s its conventional dosages have failed to achieve with 60 per cent unresponsiveness reported with who regimen in bihar (india). pentamidine initially used as a second line of drug, acquired resistance (25%) even with prolonged dosage. newer oral drug miltefosine is a potent antileishmanial drug with longer half-life, a property likely to acquire resistance. paromomycin has under ... | 2006 | 16778318 |
| drug resistance mechanisms in clinical isolates of leishmania donovani. | leishmania are protozoan parasites distributed worldwide. about 1.5-2.0 million cases are reported in the world annually from this disease and the death toll is estimated to be 57,000. along with brazil, sudan and bangladesh, india contributes to 90 per cent of the global burden of visceral leishmaniasis (vl). the absence of effective vaccines and vector control programmes, makes chemotherapy the most widely used tool against leishmaniasis. chemotherapy based on pentavalent antimonials has been ... | 2006 | 16778320 |
| phospholipid translocation and miltefosine potency require both l. donovani miltefosine transporter and the new protein ldros3 in leishmania parasites. | the antitumor drug miltefosine has been recently approved as the first oral drug active against visceral leishmaniasis. we have previously identified the l. donovani miltefosine transporter (ldmt) as a p-type atpase involved in phospholipid translocation at the plasma membrane of leishmania parasites. here we show that this protein is essential but not sufficient for the phospholipid translocation activity and, thus, for the potency of the drug. based on recent findings in yeast, we have identif ... | 2006 | 16785229 |
| cutting edge: stat1 and t-bet play distinct roles in determining outcome of visceral leishmaniasis caused by leishmania donovani. | t-bet and stat1 regulate ifn-gamma gene transcription in cd4+ t cells, which mediate protection against leishmania. here we show that t-bet and stat1 are required for the induction of an efficient th1 response during leishmania donovani infection, but they play distinct roles in determining disease outcome. both stat1(-/-) and t-bet(-/-) mice failed to mount a th1 response, but stat1(-/-) mice were highly resistant to l. donovani and developed less immunopathology, whereas t-bet(-/-) mice were h ... | 2006 | 16785492 |
| responses to leishmania donovani in mice deficient in interleukin-12 (il-12), il-12/il-23, or il-18. | interleukin-12 (il-12) orchestrates acquired resistance in intracellular leishmania donovani infection in the liver, inducing gamma interferon and, in turn, macrophage activation and parasite killing. nevertheless, testing in il-18(-/-) mice compared to wild-type mice and in il-12p40(-/-) compared to il-12p35(-/-) mice also suggested both early-acting (il-18) and late-acting (il-23) antileishmanial effects independent of il-12. | 2006 | 16790814 |
| distinct roles for il-6 and il-12p40 in mediating protection against leishmania donovani and the expansion of il-10+ cd4+ t cells. | adoptive dendritic cell (dc) immunotherapy provides a useful experimental tool to evaluate immunoregulation in vivo and has previously been successfully used to enhance host resistance in a variety of experimental models of leishmaniasis. here, we used this approach to identify il-6 and il-12p40 as critical cytokines that cooperate to mediate host protection to leishmania donovani but which act independently to regulate expansion of il-10(+) cd4(+) t cells, shown here for the first time to be as ... | 2006 | 16791879 |
| leishmania histone h1 overexpression delays parasite cell-cycle progression, parasite differentiation and reduces leishmania infectivity in vivo. | episomal expression of leishmania histone h1 sense mrnas in leishmania major promastigotes was found previously to result in overexpression of this molecule and to reduce parasite infectivity in vitro. herein, we evaluated the in vivo infectivity of these transfectants, in balb/c mice, and showed that it is dramatically reduced. no lesions were observed in this group of mice and this was associated with an extremely low number of parasites both in the footpad and in the draining lymph nodes. int ... | 2006 | 16796681 |
| selective targeting of indel-inferred differences in spatial structures of homologous proteins. | the eukaryotic pathogen leishmania donovani possesses a housekeeping protein elongation-factor-1alpha (ef-1alpha) which has been found to be unexpectedly involved in the pathogen's virulence. because it is associated with virulence and essential for cell survival, this protein is an attractive choice for drug targeting; however, its sequence is highly similar (> 80% sequence identity) to that of its human homolog, rendering it a risky choice for a drug target. the chief difference between these ... | 2006 | 16819791 |
| activity of and initial mechanistic studies on a novel antileishmanial agent identified through in silico pharmacophore development and database searching. | a 3d pharmacophore was generated to describe the antileishmanial activity of dinitroaniline sulfonamides by catalyst 3d-qsar methodology, and this pharmacophore was used to search the maybridge database. two compounds identified in this search, btb 06237 and btb 06256, were highly active with ic(50) values against l. donovani amastigotes of 0.5 +/- 0.2 and 2.3 +/- 0.8 microm, respectively. btb 06237 also reduced parasite burdens in l. mexicana-infected j774 macrophages at low micromolar concentr ... | 2006 | 16821779 |
| leishmania donovani infection of human myeloid dendritic cells leads to a th1 response in cd4+ t cells from healthy donors and patients with kala-azar. | the role played by dendritic cells (dcs) in leishmania donovani infection is poorly understood. here, we report that l. donovani amastigotes efficiently infect human peripheral-blood monocyte-derived dcs. opsonization with normal human serum enhanced the infectivity of amastigotes and promastigotes only marginally. surface attachment versus internalization was distinguished by incubation of dcs with live, fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled parasites, followed by quenching with crystal violet. in ... | 2006 | 16826476 |
| visceral leishmaniasis, or kala azar (ka): high incidence of refractoriness to antimony is contributed by anthroponotic transmission via post-ka dermal leishmaniasis. | individuals with visceral leishmaniasis, or kala azar (ka) and individuals with post-ka dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl) are considered to be reservoirs of transmission of leishmania donovani in india. when intracellular amastigotes were used to assess the natural susceptibility that pkdl isolates and ka isolates have to sodium antimony gluconate (sag), the mean ed(50) was found to be 12.0+/-2.49 and 11.0+/-1.38 microg/ml, respectively; and there was a significant correlation with the clinical respon ... | 2006 | 16826477 |
| visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar)--the bihar (india) perspective. | from a hospital-based surveillance carried out in rajendra memorial research institute of medical sciences, patna, bihar, india, the socio-economic, demographic and treatment response information of 737 patients admitted with visceral leishmaniasis (vl) during january 2001-december 2003, were analysed. the disease was two times higher in males than in females because of several factors including clothing pattern, sleeping habits and occupation. in bihar, the second poorest state in india, povert ... | 2006 | 16269185 |
| homology-model-guided site-specific mutagenesis reveals the mechanisms of substrate binding and product-regulation of adenosine kinase from leishmania donovani. | despite designating catalytic roles of asp299 and arg131 during the transfer of gamma-phosphate from atp to ado (adenosine) [r. datta, das, sen, chakraborty, adak, mandal and a. k. datta (2005) biochem. j. 387, 591-600], the mechanisms that determine binding of substrate and cause product inhibition of adenosine kinase from leishmania donovani remained unclear. in the present study, employing homology-model-guided site-specific protein mutagenesis, we show that asp16 is indispensable, since its ... | 2006 | 16271040 |
| biomimetic synthesis, antimicrobial, antileishmanial and antimalarial activities of euglobals and their analogues. | in the present communication, naturally occurring phloroglucinol-monoterpene adducts, euglobals g1-g4 (3b/a and 4a/b) and 16 new analogues (13a/b-18a/b and 19-22) were synthesized by biomimetic approach. these synthetic compounds differ from natural euglobals in the nature of monoterpene and acyl functionality. all of these compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial, antifungal, antileishmanial and antimalarial activities. analogue 17b possessed good antibacterial activity against methicil ... | 2006 | 16274995 |
| cloning and characterization of angiotensin converting enzyme related dipeptidylcarboxypeptidase from leishmania donovani. | we report the first identification, gene cloning, recombinant expression and biochemical characterization of an angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) related dipeptidylcarboxypeptidase (dcp) in a protozoan parasite. the mammalian counterpart of this enzyme, peptidyl dipeptidase a (a carboxyl dipeptidase) also known as ace leads to the cleavage of angiotensin i to produce a potent vasopressor. the catalytic enzyme activity of its escherichia coli dcp counter part can be inhibited by the antihyperte ... | 2006 | 16257064 |
| characterization of a methionine adenosyltransferase over-expressing strain in the trypanosomatid leishmania donovani. | methionine adenosyltransferase (mat: ec 2.5.1.6) catalyzes the synthesis of s-adenosylmethionine (adomet) in two sequential steps, adomet formation and subsequent tripolyphosphate (pppi) cleavage, induced by adomet. in pursuit of a better understanding of the biological function of the enzyme, the mat gene was cloned into vector px63neo to induce episomal overexpression in leishmania parasites. neomycin-selected clones originated a strain of such overexpressing parasites that accumulated more th ... | 2006 | 16280200 |
| identification and biochemical characterization of leishmania strains isolated in peru, mexico, and spain. | eight leishmania promastigotes were isolated from different geographical areas: three (lp1, lp2, and lp3) from the provincial department la libertad and the fourth (lp4) from the department of cajamarca (northern peru); another three (lm1, lm2, and lm3) in the province of campeche (mexico); and the last (ls1) from a clinical case of a dog in madrid (spain). the isolates were characterized by carbohydrate cell-surface residues using agglutinations with four purified lectins, by isoenzyme analysis ... | 2006 | 16289175 |
| prokaryotic expression, purification, and polyclonal antibody production against a novel drug resistance gene of leishmania donovani clinical isolate. | diseases produced by protozoan parasites are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality around the world, affecting millions of people. among these, leishmaniasis has become the second most common cause of death and the problem is further complicated by the expansion of parasite resistance to the conventional drugs. the high rate of therapeutic failure thus calls for new rational approaches to develop alternative drugs. understanding resistance mechanisms may help identify new targets for ... | 2006 | 16289919 |
| leishmania donovani: differential activities of classical topoisomerase inhibitors and antileishmanials against parasite and host cells at the level of dna topoisomerase i and in cytotoxicity assays. | different classes of topoisomerase (top) inhibitors and antitrypanosomatid agents exhibited variable efficacies against leishmania donovani parasites and human mononuclear cells both at the level of dna topoisomerase i (topi) catalytic activity and in cytotoxicity assays. bis-benzimidazoles and the diamidine diminazene aceturate exhibited uniformly high efficacies against parasite and host enzymes as well as against parasite and mononuclear cells, but pentamidine showed around 2 orders of magnit ... | 2006 | 16293247 |
| synthesis and antiprotozoal activity of some new synthetic substituted quinoxalines. | a series of 29 new quinoxalines was synthesized and evaluated in vitro against several parasites (leishmania donovani, trypanosoma brucei brucei, and trichomonas vaginalis). several of them displayed interesting activities, and particularly four quinoxaline amides showed in vitro antileishmanial properties (ic50 less than 20 microm). | 2006 | 16309903 |
| the sterol-binding antibiotic nystatin inhibits entry of non-opsonized leishmania donovani into macrophages. | leishmania donovani is an obligate intracellular parasite that infects macrophages of the vertebrate host resulting in visceral leishmaniasis in humans, a major public health problem worldwide. the molecular mechanisms involved in internalization of leishmania are still poorly characterized. we report here that cholesterol sequestration by the sterol-binding antifungal polyene antibiotic nystatin markedly inhibits binding and entry of non-opsonized l. donovani promastigotes into macrophages. int ... | 2006 | 16310160 |
| non pc liposome entrapped promastigote antigens elicit parasite specific cd8+ and cd4+ t-cell immune response and protect hamsters against visceral leishmaniasis. | leishmania donovani promastigote soluble antigens (slag) were encapsulated in non-phosphatidylcholine (non-pc) liposomes (escheriosomes) prepared from e. coli lipids. the escheriosome-based vaccine was investigated for its potential to elicit a protective immune response against experimental visceral leishmaniasis. the vaccine administration induced strong humoral as well as cell mediated immune responses both in hamsters and balb/c mice. immunization of balb/c mice with escheriosome entrapped s ... | 2006 | 16310900 |
| large-scale survey for potentially targetable indels in bacterial and protozoan proteins. | our previous results demonstrated that some essential, housekeeping proteins from pathogenic microorganisms may contain sizable insertions-deletions in their sequences (compared to close human homologs) that can be responsible for unexpected virulence properties. for example, we found that indel-bearing elongation factor-1alpha from several pathogenic protozoa can activate a human tyrosine phosphatase shp-1 leading to deactivation of macrophages. on the one hand, these findings allowed developme ... | 2006 | 16315289 |
| development of a semi-automated colorimetric assay for screening anti-leishmanial agents. | mts or {3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl}-2h-tetrazolium, inner salt) is converted into soluble formazan by mitochondrial dehydrogenase of viable cells, thus serving as an indicator of cell viability. accordingly, a mts-based assay was developed to evaluate anti-leishmanial activity in leishmania promastigotes from strains responsible for visceral, cutaneous or mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. the assay was initially optimized for the appropriate wavelength (4 ... | 2006 | 16316700 |
| syntheses of new substituted triazino tetrahydroisoquinolines and beta-carbolines as novel antileishmanial agents. | a series of triazino tetrahydroisoquinolines (3-5) and beta-carboline derivatives (15-27) have been synthesized as novel antileishmanial agents. among them, compounds 15, 16 and 25 have shown 78.0%, 78.6% and 68.0% in vivo inhibition against leishmania donovani at a dose of 50 mg kg(-1) x 5 days, respectively, while compounds 3 and 18 exhibited 55.6% and 53.3% in vivo inhibitions, respectively, against l. donovani at a dose of 50 mg kg(-1) x 5 days. | 2006 | 16356594 |
| adoptive immunotherapy against experimental visceral leishmaniasis with cd8+ t cells requires the presence of cognate antigen. | cd8+ t cells have a protective role in experimental visceral leishmaniasis. however, the observation that inflammatory cytokines induce bystander activation of cd8+ t cells questions the need for antigen-dependent effector function. here, we demonstrate that successful adoptive immunotherapy with cd8+ t cells is strictly dependent upon the presence of cognate antigen. | 2006 | 16369038 |
| rna interference reveals a role for tlr2 and tlr3 in the recognition of leishmania donovani promastigotes by interferon-gamma-primed macrophages. | leishmania donovani promastigotes evade the induction of a proinflammatory response during their invasion of naive macrophages. however, their entry into ifn-gamma-primed macrophages is accompanied by the secretion of nitric oxide (no) and proinflammatory cytokines. in the present study, we addressed the hypothesis that priming with ifn-gamma induces the expression of a receptor that enables mouse macrophages to recognize l. donovani promastigotes. we observed that in ifn-gamma-primed macrophage ... | 2006 | 16369915 |
| in vitro and in vivo interactions between miltefosine and other antileishmanial drugs. | the interaction of miltefosine with amphotericin b, sodium stibogluconate, paromomycin, and sitamaquine was assessed in vitro and additionally for the first three combinations in vivo. in vitro interactions were indifferent for miltefosine combined with amphotericin b (mean sums of fractional inhibitory concentrations [mean summation operatorfics] ranging from 1.22 to 1.51 at the 50% effective concentration [ec50] level and 1.08 to 1.38 at the ec90 level), sitamaquine (mean summation operatorfic ... | 2006 | 16377670 |
| resistance of leishmania donovani to sodium stibogluconate is related to the expression of host and parasite gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase. | sequencing studies showed that the gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma-gcs) heavy chain genes from sodium stibogluconate (ssg)-resistant (ssg-r) and ssg-susceptible (ssg-s) leishmania donovani strains were identical, indicating that ssg resistance was related to quantitative differences in gamma-gcs expression rather than gene interstrain polymorphisms. in vitro infection of murine macrophages with the ssg-r strain, but not the ssg-s strain, down regulated expression of host gamma-gcs, whic ... | 2006 | 16377672 |
| the fml-vaccine (leishmune) against canine visceral leishmaniasis: a transmission blocking vaccine. | transmission blocking vaccines are one of the control strategies for vector-transmitted protozoan diseases. antibodies raised in the vaccinated host prevent the development of the parasite in the insect vector, interrupting the epidemiological cycle. the fml antigen of leishmania donovani in combination with saponin (fml-vaccine and leishmune) induced 92-97% of protections against zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis. we assayed the ability of fml to inhibit leishmania donovani and leishmania chagasi ... | 2006 | 16386824 |
| the pathogenesis of post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis from the field to the molecule: does ultraviolet light (uvb) radiation play a role? | post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl) is a dermatosis caused by persistence of leishmania donovani parasites in the skin following apparently successful treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. the distribution of pkdl lesions in sudanese patients often mirrors the clothing habits of those affected. it is most severe in or confined to the sun-exposed parts of the skin. it is well established that elimination of leishmania parasites requires activation of parasitised macrophages by a th1 immune ... | 2006 | 16386855 |
| reversal of adp-mediated aggregation of adenosine kinase by cyclophilin leads to its reactivation. | cyclophilins have been implicated in several important cellular functions. our earlier results showed that reactivation of adenosine kinase (adk) by cyp (ldcyp) from the parasitic protozoa leishmania donovani is accompanied with disaggregation of the enzyme [chakraborty, a., et al. (2002) j. biol. chem. 277, 47451-47460; chakraborty, a., et al. (2004) biochemistry 43, 11862-11872]. however, it remained to be known why the enzyme displayed progressive inhibition during the time-dependent reaction ... | 2006 | 16388602 |
| calcium-dependent proteolytic activity of a cysteine protease caldonopain is detected during leishmania infection. | a calcium-activated protease caldonopain in the cytosolic fraction of leishmania donovani has been found to digest different endogenous proteins when subjected to sds-page. gelatin-embedded gel electrophoresis confirms presence of calcium-dependent protease activity. ca(2+) affects proteolytic activity after 10 h. when host-parasite interaction was conducted in vitro, caldonopain was found to be active after 10 h of incubation with calcium. a 67-kda protein is specifically digested during this t ... | 2006 | 16328954 |
| a triterpenoid saponin possessing antileishmanial activity from the leaves of careya arborea. | bioguided-fractionation of the methanol extract of the leaves of careya arborea led to isolation of a triterpenoid saponin, designated arborenin, and characterized as 3-o-beta-d-glucopyranosyl(1-->2)-beta-d-glucopyranosyl-2 alpha,3beta-dihydroxy-taraxast-20-en-28-oic acid (1), together with desacylescin iii (2). the structures were determined on the basis of extensive 2d nmr spectroscopic analysis. the saponin showed in vitro antileishmanial activity against leishmania donovani (strain ag 83). | 2006 | 16343564 |
| alkyl-linked bis-thtt derivatives as potent in vitro trypanocidal agents. | the effect of several alkyl-linked bis tetrahydro-(2h)-1,3,5-thiadiazine-2-thione (bis-thtt) on leishmania donovani, trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, and plasmodium falciparum is reported. most of the compounds exhibited a potent activity against the three parasitic strains but the best in vitro activity profiles were found against t. b. rhodesiense with ic(50) values ranging between 0.3 and 4 microm for the most active compounds. | 2006 | 16343898 |
| interleukin-27r (wsx-1/t-cell cytokine receptor) gene-deficient mice display enhanced resistance to leishmania donovani infection but develop severe liver immunopathology. | the interleukin-27 (il-27)/t-cell cytokine receptor (tccr) pathway plays an important role in development of protective immunity against cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by leishmania major. in this study, we analyzed the role of il-27/tccr pathway in the host defense against visceral leishmaniasis (vl) by monitoring the course of l. donovani infection in tccr-deficient c57bl/6 (tccr-/-) mice. tccr-/- mice mounted a robust inflammatory response, produced high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, ... | 2006 | 16400019 |
| pathogen inactivation of leishmania donovani infantum in plasma and platelet concentrates using riboflavin and ultraviolet light. | leishmania is transmitted by the bite of the phlebotomine sandfly or by transfusion of infected blood products. leishmaniasis currently poses a significant problem in several parts of the world, and is an emerging problem in others. the mirasol prt technology is based on the use of riboflavin and ultraviolet light to generate chemical reactions in the nucleic acids of pathogens, which prevents replication and leads to inactivation. the intent of this study was to examine the ability of the miras ... | 2006 | 16430665 |
| antimony-induced cerebellar ataxia. | visceral leishmaniasis vl, caused by leishmania donovani is endemic over several parts of sudan. the disease is fatal if not treated. although sodium stibogluconate pentostam, a pentavalent antimonial is not free from toxicity, it has been in use for treatment of vl for the last 50 years. like other infectious diseases, neurological manifestations of vl and sodium stibogluconate have been documented. in this report, we present 2 cases of cerebellar ataxia most likely induced by pentostam, and ex ... | 2006 | 16432602 |
| acyclic pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine nucleoside as potential leishmaniostatic agent. | a new synthesis of 6-amino-1-hydroxyethoxymethyl-4 (5h)-oxopyrazolo[3, 4-d]pyrimidine (4) has been mentioned. compound 4 exhibited inhibition of amastigotes of leishmania donovani to the extent of 89 % at 30 microg/ml, whereas iso-guanine analogue 5 had the inhibition only to the extent of 52.8% at 100 microg/ml in vitro. in hamster model the maximum inhibitory response for compound 4 against amastigotes multiplication was observed to be 94% at 50 mg/kg single dose for 5 consecutive days. | 2006 | 16440985 |
| isoflavonoids and other compounds from psorothamnus arborescens with antiprotozoal activities. | bioactivity-guided fractionation of the root extract of psorothamnus arborescens yielded the new isoflavone 5,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-2'-(3,3-dimethylallyl)isoflavone (1a) and the new 2-arylbenzofuran 2-(2'-hydroxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyphenyl)-6-methoxybenzofuran-3-carbaldehyde (2), together with seven known compounds, including three isoflavones, fremontin (3a), glycyrrhisoflavone (4a), and calycosin (5), two pterocarpans, maackiain (6) and 4-hydroxymaackiain (7), one triterpene, oleanolic acid (8) ... | 2006 | 16441066 |
| evaluation of ifn-gamma production by cd8 t lymphocytes in response to the k1 peptide from kmp-11 protein in patients infected with trypanosoma cruzi. | the cellular response mediated by mhc class i restricted cd8+ t cells has been shown to be crucial in the control of chagas disease. the k1 peptide derived from t. cruzi kmp-11 protein has a high binding affinity to the hla-a*0201 molecule. nevertheless, it is not known whether this peptide is processed and displayed as an mhc class i epitope during natural infection by t. cruzi. the aim of this study was to evaluate, by elispot assay, the ability of k1 peptide to activate cd8+ t lymphocytes to ... | 2006 | 16441508 |
| a cooh-terminal domain regulates the activity of leishmania proton pumps ldh1a and ldh1b. | leishmania donovani requires actively transporting proton efflux pumps to survive the acidic environment of macrophage phagolysosomal vacuoles and to maintain an electrogenic h(+) gradient for nutrient uptake. the l. donovani genome contains a differentially expressed pair of genes, ldh1a and ldh1b, with homology to yeast h(+)-atpases that are 98% identical in sequence with amino acid differences concentrated at the cooh-terminus (15 of last 37 differ), a region implicated in regulation of yeast ... | 2006 | 16442543 |
| lutzomyia longipalpis and the eco-epidemiology of american visceral leishmaniasis, with particular reference to brazil: a review. | an historical review is given of american visceral leishmaniasis (avl), with particular reference to the eco-epidemiology of the disease in brazil. following the first records of avl in this country, in 1934, the sandfly lutzomyia longipalpis (lutz and neiva, 1912) was incriminated as the principal vector. it is now generally accepted, however, that there exist a number of cryptic species under the name of lu. longipalpis s.l. and that variations in the quantity of the vasodilatory peptide maxad ... | 2006 | 16444411 |
| canine visceral leishmaniosis: a comparative analysis of the eie-leishmaniose-visceral-canina-bio-manguinhos and the ifi-leishmaniose-visceral-canina-bio-manguinhos kits. | this study evaluated the performance of the eie-leishmaniose-visceral-canina-bio-manguinhos (eie-lvc) kit and to compare it with that of the ifi-leishmaniose-visceral-canina-bio-manguinhos (ifi-lvc) kit. four groups of dogs were studied: group 1 (g1), dogs with clinical signs indicative of cvl and testing positive for the parasite (n = 25); group 2 (g2), dogs with only a presumed diagnosis of cvl (n = 62); group 3 (g3), dogs that had never lived in an area where cvl is endemic and never received ... | 2006 | 16446034 |
| leishmania donovani: identification of stimulatory soluble antigenic proteins using cured human and hamster lymphocytes for their prophylactic potential against visceral leishmaniasis. | most of the studies for the identification of prophylactic antigens that elicit t cell responses were concentrated on membrane proteins of leishmania donovani. this study was taken up to assess l. donovani soluble promastigote antigens for their ability to stimulate proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) from cured visceral leishmaniasis (vl) patients, endemic and non-endemic controls and lymphocytes/peritoneal macrophages of cured hamsters. the soluble protein was subjected ... | 2006 | 16448729 |
| multilocus microsatellite typing as a new tool for discrimination of leishmania infantum mon-1 strains. | the leishmania donovani complex, which consists of l. donovani, l. infantum-l. chagasi, and l. archibaldi, is responsible for visceral manifestations of leishmaniasis. multilocus enzyme electrophoresis is the standard method for the characterization and identification of strains of leishmania. for l. infantum, the predominance of zymodeme mon-1 significantly reduces the discriminative power of this approach. in the present study, we developed 17 independent polymorphic microsatellite markers for ... | 2006 | 16455904 |
| risk factors for leishmania chagasi infection in an urban area of minas gerais state. | in order to understand the determinants of human infection by leishmania chagasi in an urban area, a cross-sectional population based study was conducted using molecular and serologic methods to identify infection. participants were interviewed using a pre-coded questionnaire. two criteria were tested to identify risk factors: model 1--including all participants positive in hybridization by leishmania donovani complex probe; model 2--including all participants positive for hybridization and at l ... | 2006 | 16410918 |
| identification of leishmania donovani antigens stimulating cellular immune responses in exposed immune individuals. | human visceral leishmaniasis (vl), also known as kala azar (ka) in india, is a systemic progressive disease caused by leishmania donovani. in vl, th1 responses correlate with recovery from and resistance to disease and resolution of infection results in lifelong immunity against the disease. however, recent data suggest an important role for interleukin (il)-10 in maintaining the resistant state. we evaluated whole cell extract (we) and 11 antigenic fractions [f1-f11, molecular weight (mw) range ... | 2006 | 16412064 |
| co-administration of il-12 dna with rorff antigen confers long-term protective immunity against experimental visceral leishmaniaisis. | visceral leishmaniasis, caused by the intracellular parasite leishmania donovani is a significant public health problem in many regions of the world. anti-leishmanial immune defences are primarily dependent on the ability of the host to mount an interleukin-12 (il-12) driven th1 type of responses. thus, il-12 plays a pivotal role in diversification of the immune responses towards th1 type. in this report, we investigated the effect of il-12 dna as an adjuvant with leishmanial recombinant open re ... | 2006 | 16413950 |
| c-reactive protein initiates transformation of leishmania donovani and l. mexicana through binding to lipophosphoglycan. | 2006 | 16417933 | |
| bioactive properties of plant species ingested by chimpanzees (pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the kibale national park, uganda. | we measured the biological activities of a selected sample (84 crude extracts) of 24 species eaten by wild chimpanzees (pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the kibale national park, western uganda, to assess their potential chemotherapeutic values. antibacterial, antimalarial, and/or antileishmania activities were observed in some crude extracts, and five of these extracts showed a significant cytotoxicity against human tumor cells. active compounds isolated from three plant parts occasionally in ... | 2006 | 16419122 |
| comparative antiplasmodial, leishmanicidal and antitrypanosomal activities of several biflavonoids. | the antiplasmodial, leishmanicidal and antitrypanosomal activities of eight natural biflavonoids were estimated in vitro on a chloroquine-resistant strain of plasmodium falciparum, axenically grown leishmania donovani amastigotes and trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes and trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense bloodstream forms. lanaroflavone showed the highest antiplasmodial activity (ic(50) = 0.48 microm), isoginkgetin was the most active leishmanicidal compound (ic(50) = 1.9 microm), whereas ginkgetin ... | 2006 | 16428025 |
| refinement of techniques for the propagation of leishmania donovani in hamsters. | improved animal models are urgently required for drug and vaccine development against visceral leishmaniasis. here we report refinements to the hamster model of infection that reduce the severity of the disease as well as the number of animals required to maintain infection while improving parasite yields. a comparison between infection via the intracardiac and intraperitoneal routes showed that the less commonly used intraperitoneal route is the simpler and preferred method. the katex latex agg ... | 2006 | 16464432 |
| point mutations within the ldnt2 nucleoside transporter gene from leishmania donovani confer drug resistance and transport deficiency. | leishmania donovani, a protozoan parasite, expresses an unusual inosine/guanosine-specific transporter, ldnt2, the gene for which was cloned by functional rescue of a drug-resistant, ldnt2-deficient (fbd5) strain. in this investigation, we have uncovered and characterized the mutations within the ldnt2 open reading frame that are the basis for the drug-resistance and transport-incompetent phenotype of the fbd5 line. the fbd5 cells were shown to be compound heterozygotes in which both mutant ldnt ... | 2006 | 16464630 |