Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
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| bisphosphonates inhibit the growth of trypanosoma brucei, trypanosoma cruzi, leishmania donovani, toxoplasma gondii, and plasmodium falciparum: a potential route to chemotherapy. | we have investigated the effects in vitro of a series of bisphosphonates on the proliferation of trypanosoma cruzi, trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, leishmania donovani, toxoplasma gondii, and plasmodium falciparum. the results show that nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates of the type used in bone resorption therapy have significant activity against parasites, with the aromatic species having in some cases nanomolar or low-micromolar ic(50) activity values against parasite replication (e.g. o-ris ... | 2001 | 11300872 |
| leishmania donovani: intraspecific polymorphisms of sudanese isolates revealed by pcr-based analyses and dna sequencing. | four polymerase chain reaction (pcr)-based approaches were used to analyze diversity within 23 sudanese isolates of leishmania donovani. methods compared were fingerprinting with single nonspecific primers, restriction analysis of the amplified ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (its) locus, single-stranded conformation polymorphism (sscp), and sequencing of the its region. when pcr fingerprinting and restriction analysis of its were applied, highly similar fragment patterns were observed for ... | 2001 | 11207112 |
| general suppression of macrophage gene expression during leishmania donovani infection. | within the mammalian host, leishmania donovani is an obligatory intracellular protozoan that resides and multiplies exclusively in the phagolysosomes of macrophages. the outcome of this infection is governed by the interaction between leishmania and macrophage molecules that ultimately effect the expression of genes within both cells. to explore the effect of this intracellular infection on macrophage gene expression, a cdna expression array analysis was performed to compare gene expression prof ... | 2001 | 11207299 |
| leishmanicidal activity of stearylamine-bearing liposomes in vitro. | liposomes consisting of stearylamine (sa) and egg yolk phosphatidylcholine (pc) were studied for their cytotoxic activity against freshly transformed promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of leishmania donovani, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis. more than 99% of the parasites of strain ag83 were killed within 60 min by treatment with 22 mol% sa-pc liposomes (132 microg/ml total lipids). this was further confirmed by incubating the liposome-treated promastigotes at 22 c for 96 ... | 2001 | 11227889 |
| leishmania virulence: it's a knock out! | 2001 | 11228002 | |
| more panantigens in leishmania. | 2001 | 11228008 | |
| immunogenicity and safety of autoclaved leishmania major plus bcg vaccine in healthy sudanese volunteers. | in a longitudinal study in the epidemiology of leishmania donovani infection in an endemic focus in eastern sudan, we observed that previous exposure or infection with leishmania major appeared to protect against visceral leishmaniasis caused by l. donovani. we therefore conducted a study to test the safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine consisting of autoclaved l. major (alm) plus bcg in inducing protection in vaccinated individuals. leishmanin-negative healthy sudanese volunteers were enrolle ... | 2001 | 11228382 |
| development of a species-specific pcr assay for detection of leishmania donovani in clinical samples from patients with kala-azar and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. | we have developed a pcr assay that is capable of amplifying kinetoplast dna (kdna) of leishmania donovani in a species-specific manner among old world leishmanias. with indian strains and isolates of l. donovani the assay was sensitive enough to detect kdna in an amount equivalent to a single parasite or less. the extreme sensitivity of the assay was reflected in its ability to detect parasite dna from small volumes of peripheral blood of patients with kala-azar (ka) and from skin lesions from p ... | 2001 | 11230394 |
| leishmania immune adherence reaction in vertebrates. | in normal human blood, c3-opsonized leishmania promastigotes immune adhere to erythrocytes, a mechanism believed to enhance their clearance from blood and phagocytosis. given the potential importance of this reaction in host defence against infection, the promastigote-erythrocyte interaction was studied in blood of individuals from one avian and 12 mammalian genera; [111in]-labelled promastigotes were found to bind only to primate erythrocytes. nevertheless, previous experiments coincubating pla ... | 2001 | 11309136 |
| synthesis of 2-substituted trifluoromethylquinolines for the evaluation of leishmanicidal activity. | the synthesis of 2-substituted-trifluoromethylquinolines from aniline, trifluoromethylanilines, 3-aminoquinoline and trifluoromethylquinaldines is reported. in vitro antileishmanial evaluation of 2-alkyl, 2-alkenyl and 2-epoxypropyl-trifluoromethylquinolines is presented. | 2001 | 11310679 |
| vaccination of balb/c mice against experimental visceral leishmaniasis with the gp36 glycoprotein antigen of leishmania donovani. | leishmania donovani gp36 glycoprotein is the main antigen of the fml fucose mannose ligand (fml) complex specifically recognized by sera of kala-azar human patients. the gp36 was isolated by chemical elution + sonication and used for balb/c mouse vaccination in combination with saponin, by the s.c. route, inducing a strong and specific protective effect against experimental visceral leishmaniasis shown by the increase of: specific igg antibodies (82.6%), mainly igg2a, the delayed type of hyperse ... | 2001 | 11312005 |
| protection against leishmania donovani infection by dna vaccination: increased dna vaccination efficiency through inhibiting the cellular p53 response. | dna-vaccination holds great promise for the future of vaccine development against infectious diseases, especially in developing countries. we therefore investigated the possibility of using dna-vaccination against leishmania donovani infection with the a2 virulence gene and whether inhibiting the cellular p53 response could increase the effectiveness of the a2 dna vaccine. p53, also known as the guardian of the genome, is activated following dna transfection and has pleotropic effects on cells, ... | 2001 | 11312013 |
| adaptation of leishmania cells to in vitro culture results in a more efficient reduction and transport of biopterin. | leishmania major and leishmania donovani cells freshly isolated from infected animals divided slowly as axenic promastigotes but the addition of biopterin in the culture medium greatly enhanced their growth. however, when cells were subjected to serial passages and adapted to culture, this growth-promoting effect of biopterin was no longer observed. genetic analysis of these culture-adapted leishmania cells demonstrated that the genes coding for the pterin reductase ptr1 or for the biopterin tra ... | 2001 | 11312578 |
| genetic typing and phylogeny of the leishmania donovani complex by restriction analysis of pcr amplified gp63 intergenic regions. | protozoan parasites of the leishmania donovani complex (l. donovani, l. infantum/l. chagasi) are causative agents of visceral leishmaniasis. to understand phylogeny and taxonomy within this group better we have developed 2 new polymerase chain reaction-linked restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp) analyses of the major surface protease (msp or gp63) intergenic (itg) regions. we have named this approach msp intergenic region rflp typing (mirt). one intergenic region lies between the ... | 2001 | 11315172 |
| novel inhibitors of leishmanial dihydrofolate reductase. | the program dock3.5 was used to search the cambridge structural database for novel inhibitors of leishmanial dihydrofolate reductase. a number of compounds were obtained and screened against the enzyme and against the intact parasite leishmania donovani and the related organisms trypanosoma brucei and trypanosoma cruzi. the compounds screened showed weak activity in both the enzyme assays and the in vitro assays. | 2001 | 11327604 |
| characterisation of the gene encoding type ii dna topoisomerase from leishmania donovani: a key molecular target in antileishmanial therapy. | the gene encoding type ii dna topoisomerase from the kinetoplastid hemoflagellated protozoan parasite leishmania donovani (ldtop2) was isolated from a genomic dna library of this parasite. dna sequence analysis revealed an orf of 3711 bp encoding a putative protein of 1236 amino acids with no introns. the deduced amino acid sequence of ldtop2 showed strong homologies to top2 sequences from other kinetoplastids, namely crithidia and trypanosoma spp. with estimated identities of 86 and 68%, respec ... | 2001 | 11328867 |
| tannins and related compounds: killing of amastigotes of leishmania donovani and release of nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor alpha in macrophages in vitro. | the antileishmanial and immunomodulatory potencies of a series of 28 polyphenols were evaluated in terms of extra- and intracellular leishmanicidal activity and macrophage activation for release of nitric oxide (no), tumour necrosis factor (tnf) and interferon (ifn)-like properties. for this, several functional bioassays were employed including an in vitro model for leishmaniasis in which murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (bmmphi) were infected with the obligate intracellular parasite leish ... | 2001 | 11421463 |
| dose-dependent differential effect of hemin on protein synthesis and cell proliferation in leishmania donovani promastigotes cultured in vitro. | leishmania donovani requires an exogenous source of heme for growth and transformation. in in vitro culture of the free-living promastigotes, exogenously added hemin enhances cell proliferation. in this investigation, the question of the function of heme with particular reference to protein synthesis and cell proliferation has been addressed. the results of in vitro cell culture experiments demonstrated that hemin (10 microm) alone is suitable for supporting optimum level of protein synthesis, a ... | 2001 | 11426058 |
| role of 67 kda cell surface laminin binding protein of leishmania donovani in pathogenesis. | the role that interaction with laminin may play in leishmania donovani infection was investigated. binding of (125)i-radiolabeled laminin, in a liquid-phase assay, by the parasite was rapid, saturable, specific, reversible, and of high affinity. using a western blotting procedure, a 67 kda laminin-binding protein (lbp) was identified from the membrane of both the promastigote and amastigote forms of l. donovani. subsequently, the protein was purified by affinity chromatography. immunofluorescenc ... | 2001 | 11432790 |
| leishmania donovani lipophosphoglycan causes periphagosomal actin accumulation: correlation with impaired translocation of pkcalpha and defective phagosome maturation. | lipophosphoglycan (lpg) is the major surface glycoconjugate of leishmania donovani promastigotes. the repeating disaccharide-phosphate units of lpg are crucial for promastigote survival inside macrophages and establishment of infection. lpg has a number of effects on the host cell, including inhibition of pkc activity, inhibition of nitric oxide production and altered expression of cytokines. lpg also inhibits phagosomal maturation, a process requiring depolymerization of periphagosomal f-actin. ... | 2001 | 11437830 |
| transcriptome meets metabolome: hierarchical and metabolic regulation of the glycolytic pathway. | the fact that information flows from dna to rna to protein to function suggests that regulation is 'hierarchical', i.e. dominated by regulation of gene expression. in the case of dominant regulation at the metabolic level, however, there is no quantitative relationship between mrna levels and function. we here develop a method to quantitate the relative contributions of metabolic and hierarchical regulation. applying this method to the glycolytic flux in three species of parasitic protists, we c ... | 2001 | 11445079 |
| malnutrition alters the innate immune response and increases early visceralization following leishmania donovani infection. | malnutrition is a risk factor for the development of visceral leishmaniasis. however, the immunological basis for this susceptibility is unknown. we have developed a mouse model to study the effect of malnutrition on innate immunity and early visceralization following leishmania donovani infection. three deficient diets were studied, including 6, 3, or 1% protein; these diets were also deficient in iron, zinc, and calories. the control diet contained 17% protein, was zinc and iron sufficient, an ... | 2001 | 11447142 |
| leishmania donovani p36(lack) dna vaccine is highly immunogenic but not protective against experimental visceral leishmaniasis. | the acquisition of immunity following subclinical or resolved infection with the intracellular parasite leishmania donovani suggests that vaccination could prevent visceral leishmaniasis (vl). the lack (leishmania homolog of receptors for activated c kinase) antigen is of interest as a vaccine candidate for the leishmaniases because of its immunopathogenic role in murine l. major infection. immunization of mice with a truncated (24-kda) version of the 36-kda lack antigen, delivered in either pro ... | 2001 | 11447143 |
| a unique surface membrane anchored purine-salvage enzyme is conserved among a group of primitive eukaryotic human pathogens. | previously, we isolated and characterized the gene encoding the 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease (ld3'nt/nu) from the human pathogen, leishmania donovani. this unique cell surface enzyme has been shown to be involved in the salvage of host-derived purines, which are essential for the survival of this important protozoan parasite. in this report, we assessed whether the 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease was conserved amongst other pathogenic leishmania and related trypanosomatid parasites. results of pulsed field ... | 2001 | 11451370 |
| molecular analyses of old world leishmania rapd markers and development of a pcr assay selective for parasites of the l. donovani species complex. | three amplicons, appearing in a species-specific manner on the electrophoregrams of rapd reactions that were obtained with primer opa1, opa1-800, opa1- 900, and opa1-1200, are analyzed in this study. the study revealed that each of these products is composed of one leishmania dna band, taxonomically conserved among the different old world species studied. subsequently, only the electrophoretic position of the rapd products can be considered species-specific. in addition, sequence data, genomic o ... | 2001 | 11465992 |
| effect of large targeted deletions on the mitotic stability of an extra chromosome mediating drug resistance in leishmania. | a mitotically stable linear extra chromosome obtained in a leishmania donovani strain rendered mycophenolic acid-resistant has been physically mapped. this 290-kb chromosome has an inverted duplicated structure around a central inversion region, and is derived from a conservative amplification event of a approximately 140-kb subtelomeric end of chromosome 19. large-sized targeted deletions of the central region were performed through homologous recombination using three specific transfection vec ... | 2001 | 11470881 |
| cutaneous leishmaniasis in an italian woman: case report. | leishmaniasis is a sandfly-borne disease caused by a protozoan. the typical lesion of cutaneous leishmaniasis first appears as an erythematous papule at the site of inoculation, increases slowly in size, develops raised borders, and eventually ulcerates. the pentavalent antimony compounds continue to be a mainstay of therapy. we describe an italian patient with an enlarging facial plaque that was found to be caused by leishmania and discuss the toxicity associated with therapy. | 2001 | 11475954 |
| post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis with an atypical presentation. | 2001 | 11476117 | |
| the antileishmanial properties of surface-modified, primaquine-loaded nanocapsules tested against intramacrophagic leishmania donovani amastigotes in vitro. | 2001 | 11487374 | |
| in vitro and in vivo activity of new rhodium (iii) complexes against leishmania donovani. | the activities of 17 new rhodium drug complexes were determined against leishmania donovani promastigotes. the five most active salts were selected: [rh(iii)(2-amino-6-ethoxybenzothiazole)(4)br(2)](+)br(-); [rh(iii)(2-bromothiazole)(4)(br)(2)](+)br(-); [rh(iii)(mefloquine)(4)(cl)(2)](+)cl(-); [rh(iii)(2-mepacrine)(4)(cl)(2)](+)cl(-), and [rh(iii)(oxamniquine)(4)(cl)(2)](+)cl(-), which induced growth-inhibition rates of more than 50% at 24 h of treatment and at the maximum dosage tested. the cyto ... | 2001 | 11490204 |
| studies on stibanate resistant leishmania donovani isolates of indian origin. | studies with 26 clones of l. donovani promastigotes derived from three different indian isolates indicated that wild type parasites are mixture of stibanate sensitive and resistant cells. both forms of the parasite were resistant to the drug. infection with resistant parasites appears to be the primary reason of high rate of pentavalent antimony unresponsiveness among indian kala-azar patients. it was observed that the resistant parasites originated as a result of irregular and often incomplete ... | 2001 | 11495284 |
| occurrence of leishmania donovani parasitemia in plasma of infected hamsters. | intracardiac transfusion of plasma, mononuclear cell fraction and blood of infected hamster donors induced visceral leishmaniasis in normal hamster receptors. at the moment of transfusion, the donors already showed all the typical signs of the disease: ascites, cachexia, as well as splenomegaly and a high parasite load in the spleen and liver. all transfused hamsters developed typical visceral leishmaniasis between 90 and 120 days, indicating that all blood products were infectious. transfusion ... | 2001 | 11495646 |
| treatment of visceral leishmaniasis with sterically stabilized liposomes containing camptothecin. | the efficacy of 20(s)-camptothecin (cpt), free and incorporated into sterically stabilized liposomes, has been investigated in vitro against leishmania donovani promastigotes and in vivo in a murine model of visceral leishmaniasis. incubation of l. donovani promastigotes with free or liposomal cpt inhibited the growth of parasites in a dose-dependent manner. tissue distribution studies revealed that the intraperitoneal administration of liposomal cpt was efficient for the delivery of high drug l ... | 2001 | 11502539 |
| cloning, expression and antigenicity of the l. donovani reductase. | the protozoan parasite leishmania undergoes a morphological and biochemical transformation from the promastigote to the amastigote form during its life cycle, which is reflected in the expression of stage-specific proteins. one of these proteins shows homology to a superfamily of reductase proteins. we have cloned the reductase gene from l donovani and have shown that it differs in only one nucleotide from the l. major homologue, resulting in one amino acid change. a cytosine (c) to guanine (g) ... | 2001 | 11506479 |
| effect of testosterone on leishmania donovani infection of macrophages. | 2001 | 11511007 | |
| qsar study on the contribution of log p and e(s) to the in vitro antiprotozoal activity of glutathione derivatives. | a series of n-s-blocked glutathione monoester and diester derivatives based on n-benzyloxycarbonyl-s-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)glutathione were evaluated for activity against the pathogenic parasites trypanosoma brucei brucei, trypanosoma cruzi, and leishmania donovani in vitro.only monoesters 7-9 with a log p value of >2.7 were active inhibitors of t.b. brucei bloodstream form trypomastigotes. diester compounds 10-15 and 17-27 in most cases were better inhibitors of t.b. brucei than monoester compound ... | 2001 | 11520206 |
| structural analysis of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from saccharomyces cerevisiae. | adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (aprtase) is a widely distributed enzyme, and its deficiency in humans causes the accumulation of 2,8-dihydroxyadenine. it is the sole catalyst for adenine recycling in most eukaryotes. the most commonly expressed aprtase has subunits of approximately 187 amino acids, but the only crystal structure is from leishmania donovani, which expresses a long form of the enzyme with 237 residues. saccharomyces cerevisiae aprtase was selected as a representative of the sho ... | 2001 | 11535055 |
| the camp-binding proteins of leishmania are not the regulatory subunits of camp-dependent protein kinase. | the most commonly used method to determine the camp binding activity in cytosolic extracts of promastigotes of leishmania spp. underestimated by approximately 11.5-fold the total amount of [(3)h]camp bound, when compared with results obtained by the modified millipore filter technique. three camp-binding proteins (bpi, bpii and bpiii) were partially purified and characterized. the native molecular masses of bpi, bpii and bpiii were estimated to be 105, 155 and 145 kda, respectively. the binding ... | 2001 | 11544092 |
| expression of a mutant form of leishmania donovani centrin reduces the growth of the parasite. | leishmania donovani, a protozoan parasite, causes visceral disease in humans. to identify genes that control growth, we have isolated for the first time in the order kinetoplastida a gene encoding for centrin from l. donovani. centrin is a calcium-binding cytoskeletal protein essential for centrosome duplication or segregation. protein sequence similarity and immunoreactivity confirmed that leishmania centrin is a homolog of human centrin 2. immunofluorescence analysis localized the protein in t ... | 2001 | 11544261 |
| dna immunization with trypanosoma cruzi hsp70 fused to the kmp11 protein elicits a cytotoxic and humoral immune response against the antigen and leads to protection. | murine immunization with trypanosoma cruzi kmp11-hsp70 fused genes but not the kmp11 gene alone elicited both an immunoglobulin g2a long-lasting humoral immune response against kmp11 protein and activation of cd8+ cytotoxic t lymphocytes specific for two kmp11 peptides containing a2 motifs. moreover, protection against the parasite challenge was observed after immunization with the chimeric gene. | 2001 | 11553607 |
| post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis: does it play a role in the transmission of leishmania donovani in the sudan? | in 1997 a sudden outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis (vl) occurred in eastern sudan, coinciding with an increase of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl) cases which may in part be because of sylvatic and anthroponotic transmission. paradoxically, the more vl patients are treated, the higher the frequency of pkdl. if pkdl plays a role in transmission, its treatment would be expected to reduce infection in the area. treatment of pkdl, however, requires four times the amount of pentostam used ... | 2001 | 11555443 |
| proanthocyanidins and related compounds: antileishmanial activity and modulatory effects on nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha-release in the murine macrophage-like cell line raw 264.7. | a series of 17 proanthocyanidins and structurally related compounds was tested for activity against leishmania donovani amastigotes and promastigotes in vitro. most of the polyphenols significantly inhibited the intracellular survival of l. donovani amastigotes (ec50 0.8-10.6 nm) when compared with the antileishmanial drug pentostam (ec50 10.6 nm), but all were inactive against the extracellular form (ec50 7.8 to >86 nm). noteworthy is that all compounds exhibited only moderate or no cytotoxicit ... | 2001 | 11558561 |
| hydrogen peroxide induces apoptosis-like death in leishmania donovani promastigotes. | leishmania donovani promastigotes introduced into the bloodstream by sandfly vectors, are exposed to reactive oxygen species like h2o2 during phagocytosis by the host macrophages. h2o2 can induce promastigote death, but the mechanism of induction of this death is not known. studies presented in this paper demonstrate that exposure to 4 mm h2o2 results in a pattern of promastigote death that shares many features with metazoan apoptosis. motility and cell survival in these parasites show a gradual ... | 2001 | 11559754 |
| resistance to treatment in kala-azar: speciation of isolates from northeast india. | kala-azar in india is becoming increasingly difficult to treat, which may be due to the presence of species other than leishmania donovani; leishmania tropica was reported to cause the same clinical syndrome in the area. over the past 3 years, we have collected samples from 241 patients with visceral leishmaniasis from across the region. of the 189 isolates that grew on diphasic medium, 159 were successfully transferred to liquid medium for typing. clinically, 80% of these were resistant to anti ... | 2001 | 11561703 |
| molecular and immunological characterisation of the glucose regulated protein 78 of leishmania donovani(1). | to identify novel potential leishmania vaccine antigens, antibodies from patients with visceral leishmaniasis (vl) were used to isolate clones from a cdna expression library of l. donovani amastigotes. glucose regulated protein (grp78), a member of the 70 kda heat-shock protein family was identified and characterised. the grp78 gene was localised to chromosome 15 in l. donovani, l. major, and l. mexicana by pulse-field gel electrophoresis. the leishmania grp78 protein contain a carboxy-terminal ... | 2001 | 11566370 |
| immunization with a2 protein results in a mixed th1/th2 and a humoral response which protects mice against leishmania donovani infections. | the a2 genes of leishmania donovani encode amastigote-specific a2 proteins, which are considered to be virulence factors required for the survival of this protozoan parasite in the mammalian host. the a2 genes are present within a multigene family and corresponding a2 proteins are composed predominantly of multiple copies of a 10 amino acid repeat sequences. a2-specific antibodies have been detected in the sera of patients suffering from visceral leishmaniasis (vl) and it has been shown that gen ... | 2001 | 11567746 |
| a fast agglutination screening test (fast) for the detection of anti-leishmania antibodies. | 2001 | 11579883 | |
| skinny rodents, kala-azar and prostaglandin e(2). | 2001 | 11587943 | |
| il-10 mediates susceptibility to leishmania donovani infection. | human visceral leishmaniasis (vl) results in a severe and potentially fatal systemic disease, accompanied by cellular immune depression. the production of il-10 correlates with ongoing disease and it has been suggested that the cellular immune depression that accompanies active disease may be due to a predominance of il-10 production rather than a lack of ifn-gamma production, which is essential for optimal macrophage activation and parasite elimination. to examine the role of il-10 in resistanc ... | 2001 | 11592059 |
| inter-current and nosocomial infections among visceral leishmaniasis patients in ethiopia: an observational study. | from july 1989 up to september 1997, a total of 247 non-hiv associated visceral leishmaniasis (vl) patients were treated on outpatient basis in rural clinics (195 patients) and hospitalised in the northern-omo regional hospital (18 patients) and in addis ababa referral hospitals (34 patients). patients treated in the rural clinics and in the regional hospital originated from the same endemic area and had comparable baseline characteristics. overall rates of complications (inter-current/concurren ... | 2001 | 11600084 |
| clearance of infection with mycobacterium bovis bcg in mice is enhanced by treatment with s28463 (r-848), and its efficiency depends on expression of wild-type nramp1 (resistance allele). | the mouse bcg host resistance gene is known to control the activation of host macrophages for killing of intracellular parasites like leishmania donovani as well as intracellular bacteria, including mycobacterium bovis bcg and salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium. the nramp1 gene has been mapped to this locus and affects the efficiency of macrophage activation. it has been shown that imidazoquinoline compounds, including s28463, are able to improve the clearance of a number of intracellular p ... | 2001 | 11600356 |
| successful replacement of fetal calf serum with human urine for in vitro culture of leishmania donovani. | leishmania donovani causes visceral leishmaniasis claiming several thousand lives every year in indian sub-continent. the etiological agent is grown in cell free media supplemented with fetal calf serum (fcs). urine from human beings and other mammalian species has also been reported to stimulate growth of leishmania species no study has been carried out leishmania donovani. therefore, we studied the feasibility of culturing leishmania donovani promastigotes in m199 medium supplemented with 10% ... | 2000 | 11668940 |
| fmlp receptor stimulated activation of macrophage: its effect on killing of intracellular leishmania donovani. | the fmlp receptor of peritoneal macrophages stimulated by fmlp grafted liposomes as ligand, was analysed and compared with respective controls for its ability to promote killing of intracellular leishmania parasites. fmlp grafted liposomes show greater efficacy in killing intracellular l. donovani (mhom/in/1983/ag83) parasites in a time dependent manner than free fmlp. fmlp grafted liposomes also release more active oxygen intermediates and reactive nitrogen intermediates (o2-, h2o2, no) than fr ... | 2000 | 11332597 |
| hepatitis b and c viral infections in indian kala-azar patients receiving injectable anti-leishmanial drugs: a community-based study. | human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) and hepatitis b and hepatitis c viruses have emerged as major blood-borne infections. several cases of infections through the use of unsterile injection needles also are on record. kala-azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is a hemoparasitic disease caused by leishmania donovani. all the anti-kala-azar medications require multiple intramuscular injections of the anti-leishmanial drugs. to find whether these patients were at higher risk of contracting blood-borne in ... | 2000 | 11231183 |
| leishmania promastigotes require lipophosphoglycan to actively modulate the fusion properties of phagosomes at an early step of phagocytosis. | the lipophosphoglycan (lpg) of leishmania promastigotes plays key roles in parasite survival in both insect and mammalian hosts. evidence suggests that lpg decreases phagosome fusion properties at the onset of infection in macrophages. the mechanisms of action of this molecule are, however, poorly understood. in the present study, we used a panoply of leishmania mutants displaying modified lpg structures to determine more precisely how lpg modulates phagosome-endosome fusion. using an in vivo fu ... | 2000 | 11207568 |
| macrophage subsets harbouring leishmania donovani in spleens of infected balb/c mice: localization and characterization. | the purpose of the current study was to characterize parasite-containing cells located in spleens of balb/c mice infected with leishmania donovani. in particular, expression of mhc class ii molecules by these cells was examined to determine whether they could potentially act as cells capable of immunostimulating leishmania-reactive cd4+ t lymphocytes. to this end, an immunohistological analysis of spleens taken at various time points after infection was undertaken. using this approach, we observ ... | 2000 | 11207597 |
| a possible role of bats as a blood source for the leishmania vector lutzomyia longipalpis (diptera: psychodidae). | some evidence suggests that bats may provide an alternative blood source for lutzomyia longipalpis, the main vector of american visceral leishmaniasis. feeding trials were conducted to determine whether l. longipalpis feeds on captive bats. the high feeding success indicated that l. longipalpis is capable of feeding on at least four species of bats. implications for the epidemiology of leishmaniases are discussed. | 2000 | 11304062 |
| relevance of direct agglutination test in seroepidemiological survey of kala-azar in epidemic foci of bihar. | the performance of direct agglutination test (dat) was evaluated under field conditions in three endemic districts of bihar. in three villages of these districts, 197 households were surveyed with a population of 1167 individuals. out of 1167 individuals, 603 were clinically examined for vl and blood samples of each examined individual were collected for dat. the proportion of dat positivity in both males (32.33%) and females (32.94%) was statistically not significant (p > 0.05). the proportion ... | 2000 | 11198396 |
| interaction of ascorbate and alpha-tocopherol enhances antioxidant reserve of erythrocytes during anemia in visceral leishmaniasis. | visceral leishmaniasis (v.l.) is associated with enhanced lipid peroxidation along with impaired function of antioxidant defense system in erythrocytes. the effect of chronic treatment with ascorbate and alpha-tocopherol was studied on erythrocytes in hamsters infected with leishmania donovani. combination treatment with both antioxidants proved to be a potential suppressor of lipid hydroperoxide formation as well as hypotonic osmotic lysis during the leishmanial infection. positive correlations ... | 2000 | 11191625 |
| targeting of liposomal andrographolide to l. donovani-infected macrophages in vivo. | despite the rapid development in medicinal and pharmaceutical technology, the targeting of drugs to phagocytic cells in macrophage-related diseases still remains a major unsolved problem. by using the mannosyl-fucosyl receptors on macrophages, attempts were made to target antileishmanial drugs encapsulated in mannosylated or fucosylated liposomes to treat experimental leishmaniasis in the hamster model. mannosylated liposomes were found to be more potent in delivering antileishmanial drugs to ph ... | 2000 | 11195427 |
| treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar): a decade of progress and future approaches. | in 1990, there was essentially one treatment regimen in use for visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) around the world: 20 to 28 days of daily injections of pentavalent antimony (sb). during the past 10 years, however, new agents have been tested alone or in combination, in more than 50 studies carried out worldwide. this renewed clinical effort was spurred by a variety of factors, including the emergence of large-scale sb unresponsiveness in india, where up to one-half of the world's cases of kala ... | 2000 | 11179920 |
| overexpression, purification, and characterization of s-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase from leishmania donovani. | the gene encoding s-adenosylhomocysteine (adohcy) hydrolase in leishmania donovani was subcloned into an expression vector (pprok-1) and expressed in escherichia coli. recombinant l. donovani adohcy hydrolase was then purified from cell-free extracts of e. coli using three chromatographic steps (deae-cellulose chromatofocusing, sephacryl s-300 gel filtration, and q-sepharose ion exchange). the purified recombinant l. donovani enzyme exists as a tetramer with a molecular weight of approximately 4 ... | 2000 | 11185563 |
| circulating levels of stnfr and discrepancy between cytotoxicity and immunoreactivity of tnf-alpha in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. | to study the influence of soluble tumour necrosis factor (tnf) receptors (stnfr) on bioactivity and immunoreactivity of tnf-alpha in patients with visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) and to examine the association between circulating levels of stnfr type i and type ii with clinical manifestations of the disease. | 2000 | 11168034 |
| chromosome structure and sequence organization between pathogenic and non-pathogenic leishmania spp. | we have used a chromosome fragmentation strategy based on systematic genomic insertions of the rare cutting yeast i-scei endonuclease to assess structure and sequence organization of homologous chromosomes between evolutionary divergent pathogenic and non-pathogenic leishmania species. this method was combined to physical mapping and hybridization studies using a number of specific chromosomal markers as probes. our studies have concentrated on two different chromosomes of leishmania major (l. m ... | 2000 | 11163446 |
| a phase iii trial of efficacy of the fml-vaccine against canine kala-azar in an endemic area of brazil (são gonçalo do amaranto, rn). | protection against canine kala-azar was investigated in naturally exposed dogs of an endemic area, vaccinated with the fucose mannose ligand (fml)-vaccine of leishmania donovani. a total of 97% of vaccinees were seropositive to fml and 100% showed intradermal reaction to l. donovani lysate, 7 months after vaccination. the absorbency values and size of intradermal reaction were both significantly higher in vaccinees than in controls (anova, p<0.0001). after 2 years, 92% (chi(2)=6.996; p<0.0025) p ... | 2000 | 11137242 |
| in vitro leishmanicidal activity of monomeric and dimeric naphthoquinones. | a series of monomeric and dimeric naphthoquinones with potential for treatment of leishmania infections was identified in vitro using both a direct cytotoxicity assay against extracellular promastigotes of leishmania donovani, l. infantum, l. enriettii, and l. major and a test against intracellular amastigote l. donovani residing within murine macrophages. several naphthoquinones proved to be active at concentrations in the microgram range (ec(50) 0.9-17.0 microg/ml). when tested against a panel ... | 2000 | 11114393 |
| immunization with a recombinant stage-regulated surface protein from leishmania donovani induces protection against visceral leishmaniasis. | vaccination against visceral leishmaniasis has received limited attention compared with cutaneous leishmaniasis, although the need for an effective vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis is pressing. in this study, we demonstrate for the first time that a recombinant stage-specific hydrophilic surface protein of leishmania donovani, recombinant hydrophilic acylated surface protein b1 (haspb1), is able to confer protection against experimental challenge. protection induced by rhaspb1 does not req ... | 2000 | 11120835 |
| anti-leishmanial activity of neolignans from virola species and synthetic analogues. | surinamensin, a neolignan isolated from virola surinamensis, 3,4,5-trimethoxy-8-[2',6'-dimethoxy-4'-(e)-propenylphenoxy]-phenylpropane, a neolignan isolated from virola pavonis, and 25 of its synthetic analogues or correlated substances with ether linkages and their corresponding c-8 sulphur and nitrogen analogues, were tested for activity against leishmania donovani amastigotes and promastigotes in vitro. some were active against l. donovani promastigotes at 30 microm but inactive against intra ... | 2000 | 11130669 |
| visceral leishmaniasis control: a public health perspective. | visceral leishmaniasis (vl), also known as kala-azar, is a vector-borne disease caused by a protozoan of the leishmania donovani complex. a phlebotomine sandfly transmits the parasite from person to person or via an animal reservoir. vl is a severe, debilitating disease, characterized by prolonged fever, splenomegaly, hypergammaglobulinaemia and pancytopenia. patients become gradually ill over a period of a few months, and nearly always die if untreated. case-fatality ratios are high even in tre ... | 2000 | 11132368 |
| canine visceral leishmaniasis on margarita island (nueva esparta, venezuela). | the frequency of american visceral leishmaniasis affecting humans on margarita island, venezuela, has increased in recent years, and infected dogs appear to constitute the principal source of infection. elisa tests with leishmania donovani promastigotes and rk39 antigen from l. chagasi in serum from 541 dogs were positive in 33.1% and 21.6% of the samples, respectively. a second blood sample taken from 50 animals after 8-10 months revealed an increase from 24% to 40% of elisa positivity to both ... | 2000 | 11132371 |
| genetic heterogeneity of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer in clinical samples of leishmania donovani spotted on filter paper as revealed by single-strand conformation polymorphisms and sequencing. | a polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformation polymorphism determination (pcr-sscp) was used to detect deoxyribonucleic acid sequence polymorphisms in the transcribed non-coding regions between the small and large sub-unit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rrna) genes in leishmania donovani from 63 clinical samples collected in eastern sudan, between april 1997 and october 1998. specific leishmania primers were used to amplify the internal transcribed spacer (its) regions of l. donovani i ... | 2000 | 11132393 |
| tubulin is hyperphosphorylated on serine and tyrosine residues in arsenite-resistant leishmania donovani promastigotes. | an arsenite-resistant strain of leishmania donovani was generated in vitro by the sequential exposure of a wild type strain to increasing concentrations of sodium m-arsenite. sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of whole cell lysates of the two strains revealed that a protein band at the 55 kda position showed slower migration in the resistant samples. this band was identified as tubulin by immunoblotting, with both alpha- and beta-tubulin showing retarded migration ... | 2000 | 11097294 |
| visceral leishmaniasis in a dog from maryland. | visceral leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease that can be transmitted from dogs to humans by a sand-fly vector. endemic cases of visceral leishmaniasis among dogs in oklahoma, texas, and ohio have been reported. recent reports of visceral leishmaniasis in foxhounds in the eastern coastal states has raised new concerns about the importance of this disease in the united states. | 2000 | 11110461 |
| stage-specific development of a novel adenosine transporter in leishmania donovani amastigotes. | leishmania donovani, like all other kinetoplastida, is a purine auxotroph. comparative studies of adenosine transport in l. donovani amastigotes and promastigotes revealed that, unlike the promastigote stage, the amastigote possesses two distinct adenosine transporters (t(1) and t(2)) both with high affinities (k(m), 1.14+/-0.05 and 2. 09+/-0.13 microm, respectively). one of these transporters (t(1)) appears to be identical with the adenosine/pyrimidine nucleoside transporter of the promastigote ... | 2000 | 10802321 |
| ldarl-3a, a leishmania promastigote-specific adp-ribosylation factor-like protein, is essential for flagellum integrity. | the small g protein-encoding ldarl-3a gene, a homologue of the human arl-3 gene, was isolated from leishmania donovani, and its protein product characterised. it is unique in the leishmania genome and expressed only in the extracellular promastigote insect form, but not in the intracellular amastigote mammalian form, as shown by northern blots and western blots developed with a specific anti-c terminus immune serum. indirect immunofluorescence microscopy revealed distinct labelled spots regularl ... | 2000 | 10806117 |
| a comparison of the activities of three amphotericin b lipid formulations against experimental visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. | the polyene antibiotic, amphotericin b, the gold standard for systemic fungal infections is also a recommended second line treatment for visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. acute toxicity has limited the use of amphotericin b but less toxic lipid formulations, ambisome, amphocil and abelcet, have shown potential for the treatment of clinical visceral and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. this study compares the in vitro and in vivo anti-leishmanial activity of fungizone and the three ... | 2000 | 10755238 |
| expression and subcellular localization of cpn60 protein family members in leishmania donovani. | we have identified two diverged members of the cpn60 gene family in leishmania donovani, causative agent of indian kala azar. one of the genes, cpn60.1, although actively transcribed, is not expressed to detectable levels of protein in cultured l. donovani. the other gene, cpn60.2, which, compared with cpn60.1, shows a higher sequence conservation with the hsp60 genes from trypanosoma brucei and trypanosoma cruzi is expressed constitutively in cultured promastigotes. the abundance of the gene pr ... | 2000 | 10760571 |
| short report: occurrence of leishmania donovani dna in donated blood from seroreactive brazilian blood donors. | human visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) transmitted by blood transfusion has been described in previous reports. seroprevalence of antibodies to leishmania donovani was shown to be related to prior blood transfusions in multiply transfused hemodialysis patients in natal, rio grande do norte, brazil. in this study, a possible correlation between seroreactivity and the presence of l. donovani dna was investigated in asymptomatic healthy blood donors. sera were tested using the fucose mannose liga ... | 2000 | 10761737 |
| membrane surface of mycobacterium microti-infected macrophages antigenically differs from that of uninfected macrophages. | identification of the antigenic changes in mycobacteria-infected macrophage may be important in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the intracellular survival of the bacteria. in the present study, mycobacterium microti-infected macrophages were utilized to investigate the possibility of differentiating the infected cells from normal cells, based on the antigenic changes occurring in the membranes. antisera were generated against bacterial extract, heat-killed bacteria and crude prepara ... | 2000 | 10767610 |
| exploitation of host cell signaling machinery: activation of macrophage phosphotyrosine phosphatases as a novel mechanism of molecular microbial pathogenesis. | intracellular pathogens, particularly those that target host mononuclear phagocytes, have evolved strategies to either evade or inhibit cellular mechanisms of host defense. mycobacterium tuberculosis and leishmania donovani exemplify a diverse group of microorganisms that have developed the ability to invade and replicate within host macrophages, leading to disease expression. recent studies have suggested that the pathogenesis of intracellular infection may involve interference with host cell s ... | 2000 | 10770277 |
| analysis of antisense and double stranded rna downregulation of a2 protein expression in leishmania donovani. | 2000 | 10779609 | |
| cloning of a novel inosine-guanosine transporter gene from leishmania donovani by functional rescue of a transport-deficient mutant. | purine transport is an indispensable nutritional function for protozoan parasites, since they are incapable of purine biosynthesis and must, therefore, acquire purines from the host milieu. exploiting a mutant cell line (fbd5) of leishmania donovani deficient in inosine and guanosine transport activity, the gene encoding this transporter (ldnt2) has been cloned by functional rescue of the mutant phenotype. ldnt2 encodes a polypeptide of 499 amino acids that shows substantial homology to other me ... | 2000 | 10783393 |
| an experimental vaccine providing heterologous protection for leishmania species in murine model. | five groups each of 20 balb/c mice were immunized by heat killed l. donovani promastigotes. two groups served as control. each group of mice was subdivided into 2 equal subgroups and challenged with either l. donovani or l. major. the results revealed a high cross reactivity paralleled by a high cross protection between l. donovani and l. major. heat killed l. donovani promastigotes super-passed other tested sds-page fractionated and eluted l. d. fractions identified by immune balb/c mice in pro ... | 2000 | 10786026 |
| peroxisomal targeting signal-1 receptor protein pex5 from leishmania donovani. molecular, biochemical, and immunocytochemical characterization. | the human pathogens of the leishmania and trypanosoma genera compartmentalize glycolytic and other key metabolic pathways in unique subcellular microbodies called glycosomes, organelles related to the peroxisomes of mammals and yeast. the molecular machinery that carries out the specific targeting of glycosomal proteins to the organelle has not been characterized, although the bulk of glycosomal proteins contain the cooh-terminal tripeptide glycosomal peroxisomal targeting signal-1 (pts-1) simil ... | 2000 | 10788481 |
| leishmania donovani promastigotes evade the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases p38, c-jun n-terminal kinase, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 during infection of naive macrophages. | the protozoan parasite leishmania fails to activate naive macrophages for proinflammatory cytokines production, and selectively impairs signal transduction pathways in infected macrophages. because mitogen-activated protein kinases (mapk)- and nf-kappab-dependent signaling pathways regulate proinflammatory cytokines release, we investigated their activation in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (bmm) exposed to leishmania donovani promastigotes. in naive bmm, the parasite failed to induce the ... | 2000 | 10940915 |
| ligation of fc receptor of macrophages stimulates protein kinase c and anti-leishmanial activity. | fc receptors are known to express on the surface of mature monocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes. in this study a ligand e.g. liposomal igg (human igg coupled to pe-liposome via carbodimide reaction) was developed to ligate the fc receptor of macrophages. when liposomal igg was incubated with macrophages at 37 degrees c for 5 min, it induced the macrophage activation which suppress the parasite burden approximately to an extent of 60%, 50% and 45%, when macrophages were infected with ur6, ag83 ... | 2000 | 10942195 |
| ril-2-stimulated splenocytes reactivate the no2-producing ability of macrophages infected by leishmania donovani. | infection with l. donovani down-regulates immunity and parasite clearance by macrophages. treatment with il-2-stimulated-splenocytes activate parasiticidal action in vitro in peritoneal macrophages of c57bl/6 (lsh(s)) mice and also was effective in stimulating infected macrophages to produce no2-. | 2000 | 10946826 |
| arsenite-resistant leishmania donovani promastigotes express an enhanced membrane p-type adenosine triphosphatase activity that is sensitive to verapamil treatment. | an arsenite-resistant strain of leishmania donovani was generated in vitro by sequential exposure to higher concentrations of sodium m-arsenite. the resistant strain displayed a low level of cross-resistance to structurally unrelated drugs such as doxorubicin and pentamidine. this cross-resistance was sensitive to the calcium-channel blocker verapamil. the membrane-associated p-type adenosine triphosphatase (atpase) activity detected in crude membrane fractions of the resistant strain was 3-fold ... | 2000 | 10952266 |
| preformed membrane-associated stores of interleukin (il)-12 are a previously unrecognized source of bioactive il-12 that is mobilized within minutes of contact with an intracellular parasite. | the prevailing paradigm is that production of the interleukin (il)-12 p70 heterodimer, a critical t helper cell type 1 (th1)-inducing cytokine, depends on the induced transcription of the p40 subunit. concordant with this paradigm, we found that dendritic cells (dcs) produced il-12 p70 only after at least 2-4 h of stimulation with lipopolysaccharide plus interferon gamma. however, using several complementary experimental approaches, including electron and confocal microscopy, we now show that re ... | 2000 | 10952720 |
| use of an additional hydrophobic binding site, the z site, in the rational drug design of a new class of stronger trypanothione reductase inhibitor, quaternary alkylammonium phenothiazines. | improved rationally designed lead drug structures against african trypanosomiasis, chagas disease, and leishmaniasis were obtained against trypanothione reductase from trypanosoma cruzi. substituted-benzyl [3-(2-chloro-4a, 10a-dihydrophenothiazin-10-yl)propyl]dimethylammonium salts, synthesized by menschutkin quaternization of the tertiary alkylamine omega-nitrogen atom of chlorpromazine, were linear, competitive inhibitors of recombinant trypanothione reductase from t. cruzi, with either trypan ... | 2000 | 10956223 |
| induction of partial protection against leishmania donovani by promastigote antigens in negatively charged liposomes. | negatively charged liposomes, proposed as potential vaccine adjuvants, have been extensively studied in association with various antigens. in the present study, we investigated the adjuvanicity of negatively charged liposomes to enhance the protective immunity of membrane antigens of leishmania donovani promastigotes (lag). in comparison to the control mice immunized with phosphate-buffered saline and empty liposomes, immunization with free lag led to significant levels of protection against inf ... | 2000 | 10958448 |
| sequencing a specific kinetoplast dna fragment of leishmania donovani for polymerase chain reaction amplification in diagnosis of leishmaniasis in bone marrow and blood samples. | a set of oligonucleotide primers i and ii was developed by analyzing the specificity of a cloned kinetoplast dna (kdna) fragment of leishmania donovani and sequencing the fragment. polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was conducted with the primers to amplify a minicircle kdna fragment (297 bp) to detect l. donovani in the bone marrow (22 samples), whole blood (16 samples), and serum (17 samples) of 22 patients with visceral leishmaniasis. all of 22 patients were diagnosed by microscopic identificati ... | 2000 | 10958464 |
| small-scale isolation of high molecular weight dna from leishmania braziliensis. | in this paper, we report a method for isolation of high molecular weight dna from leishmania promastigotes. this technique is especially indicated for small-scale purification of dna suitable for the construction of highly representative genomic libraries. in our protocol, lysis buffer is compatible with rnase treatment, avoiding an additional precipitation step and consequent shearing of dna. in order to prove the quality of the dna isolated by this method, a leishmania braziliensis genomic lib ... | 2000 | 10958468 |
| the immunologically protective p-4 antigen of leishmania amastigotes. a developmentally regulated single strand-specific nuclease associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. | the purified membrane-associated leishmania pifanoi amastigote protein p-4 has been shown to induce protective immunity against infection and to elicit preferentially a t helper 1-like response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with american cutaneous leishmaniasis. as this molecule is potentially important for future vaccine studies, the l. pifanoi gene encoding the p-4 membrane protein was cloned and sequenced. southern blot analyses indicate the presence of six tandemly arraye ... | 2000 | 10969068 |
| luteolin, an abundant dietary component is a potent anti-leishmanial agent that acts by inducing topoisomerase ii-mediated kinetoplast dna cleavage leading to apoptosis. | plant-derived flavonoids, which occur abundantly in our daily dietary intake, possess antitumor, antibacterial, and free radical scavenging properties. they form active constituents of a number of herbal and traditional medicines. several flavonoids have been shown to exert their action by interacting with dna topoisomerases and promoting site-specific dna cleavage. therefore, flavonoids are potential candidates in drug design. we report here that, although the flavonoids luteolin and quercetin ... | 2000 | 10972088 |
| analysis of stereoelectronic properties of camptothecin analogues in relation to biological activity. | camptothecin and four of its 10,11-methylenedioxy analogues were examined for their activity against the pathogenic protozoan leishmania donovani in vitro. the methylenedioxy analogues were 36- to 180-fold more potent than the parent camptothecin, possessing ic50 values ranging from 160 to 32 nm against the parasite. our finding that the methylenedioxy camptothecins possess greater activity than camptothecin, which is also the case for other cell types and for the generation of cleavable complex ... | 2000 | 10976522 |
| mutations in a trna import signal define distinct receptors at the two membranes of leishmania mitochondria. | nucleus-encoded trnas are selectively imported into the mitochondrion of leishmania, a kinetoplastid protozoan. an oligoribonucleotide constituting the d stem-loop import signal of trna(tyr)(gua) was efficiently transported into the mitochondrial matrix in organello as well as in vivo. transfer through the inner membrane could be uncoupled from that through the outer membrane and was resistant to antibody against the outer membrane receptor tab. a number of mutations in the import signal had dif ... | 2000 | 10982857 |
| screening sandflies for natural infection with leishmania donovani, using a non-radioactive probe based on the total dna of the parasite. | digoxigenin-labelled total, leishmania donovani dna was used as a probe to detect the parasite in indian phlebotomus argentipes. the probe was quite sensitive, detecting as little as 0.3 pg parasite dna, equivalent to approximately 100 parasites. positive signals could be detected in 12 (32%) of the 38 small (two- to 30-fly) pools of the wild-caught p. argentipes investigated and in a pool of 10 laboratory-bred p. argentipes fed on a patient with post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. none of the ... | 2000 | 10983557 |
| rab5 regulates the kiss and run fusion between phagosomes and endosomes and the acquisition of phagosome leishmanicidal properties in raw 264.7 macrophages. | phagolysosome biogenesis is essential for the killing and degradation of intracellular pathogens. it involves the fusion of phagosomes with various endocytic organelles, a process known to be regulated in part by rab proteins. we generated raw 264.7 macrophages expressing an active mutant of rab5 (rab5(q79l)) to determine the role of rab5 in phagocytosis and phagolysosome biogenesis. our results indicate that rab5 stimulates phagocytosis of latex beads but not fc or c3 receptor-mediated phagocyt ... | 2000 | 10984443 |
| identification of vaccine candidates for experimental visceral leishmaniasis by immunization with sequential fractions of a cdna expression library. | visceral leishmaniasis caused by the intracellular parasite leishmania donovani is a significant public health problem in many regions of the world. because of its large genome and complex biology, developing a vaccine for this pathogen has proved to be a challenging task and, to date, protective recombinant vaccine candidates have not been identified. to tackle this difficult problem, we adopted a reductionist approach with the intention of identifying cdna sequences in an l. donovani amastigot ... | 2000 | 10992459 |