Manoel Barral-Netto

Searching Genes Encoding Leishmania Antigens for Diagnosis and Protection

Leishmaniases are a wide spectrum of parasitic diseases caused by the infection of different species of the genus Leishmania. Currently, these diseases are one of the most neglected diseases threatening 350 million people in different countries around the world. Thus, these diseases require better screening, diagnostics and treatment. An effective vaccine, that is not currently available, would be the best way to confront leishmaniases. In the past 20 years the molecular characterization of Leishmania genes encoding parasite antigens has been carried out. In this review we summarize the most common strategies employed for the isolation and characterization of genes encoding Leishmania antigens. To provide a collective view, we also discuss the results related with diagnosis and protection based on different recombinant DNA-derived Leishmania products.

Human T-cell responses in Leishmania infections.

Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem in several areas of the world, occurring in large areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The Leishmania complex is a group of closely related parasites that occupy a wide variety of ecologic niches and cause a spectrum of clinical disease. Infection is initiated by the bite of a sandfly, which injects the motile form, called promastigotes. Once inside the mammalian host, Leishmania are obligatory intramacrophage parasites, multiplying in these cells as nonmotile amastigotes. Basic biologic aspects of the parasite are thoroughly reviewed elsewhere (1,2).