Identification of adipocytes as target cells for Leishmania infantum parasites
Leishmania infantum is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis transmitted by the bite of female sand flies. According to the WHO, the estimated annual incidence of leishmaniasis is one million new cases, resulting in 30,000 deaths per year. The recommended drugs for treating leishmaniasis inc...
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Published in | Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 21275 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
28.10.2021
Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Leishmania infantum
is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis transmitted by the bite of female sand flies. According to the WHO, the estimated annual incidence of leishmaniasis is one million new cases, resulting in 30,000 deaths per year. The recommended drugs for treating leishmaniasis include Amphotericin B. But over the course of the years, several cases of relapses have been documented. These relapses cast doubt on the efficiency of actual treatments and raise the question of potential persistence sites. Indeed,
Leishmania
has the ability to persist in humans for long periods of time and even after successful treatment. Several potential persistence sites have already been identified and named as safe targets. As adipose tissue has been proposed as a sanctuary of persistence for several pathogens, we investigated whether
Leishmania infantum
could be found in this tissue. We demonstrated both in cell cultures and in vivo that
Leishmania infantum
was able to infect adipocytes. Altogether our results suggest adipocytes as a ‘safe target’ for
Leishmania infantum
parasites. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 PMCID: PMC8553825 |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 2045-2322 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-021-00443-y |