We recently found that distinct clades of Leishmania braziliensis genotypes are associated with differentforms of leishmaniasis [i.e. localized cutaneous (CL), disseminated (DL) and mucosal (ML) leishmaniases],and lead to differential distributions of these diseases in endemic regions. Our long term goals are: (1)determine whether the geographic distribution of L. braziliensis clades, and their dynamic changes in theendemic region over time, will correlate with the geographical pattern of human disease manifestations; and(2) develop a better understanding of how the human infection with the different strains of L. braziliensisresults in the different outcomes of leishmaniasis.
The specific aims of the current application are: (1) userandomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to genotypeLeishmania braziliensis causing CL, ML and DL in the endemic region of Corte de Pedra / Brazil; (2)evaluate the spatial and temporal distributions of CL, ML and DL in Corte de Pedra; and (3) compare theeffects of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) infection with CL, ML or DL clades of L.braziliensis on global gene expression in host cells. In the first aim we will isolate and culture parasites fromCL, ML and DL cases.genotype them by RAPD and MLST, classify the genotypes by relatedness, and checkclades of genotypes are associated with CL, ML or DL. In the second aim we will obtain the geographicalcoordinates of the living sites of the patients that participated in aim one by GPS, then compare theirdistributions in the study area using Arclnfo geographical information software and geostatistics. In the thirdaim PBMC samples of healthy donors will be infected with L. braziliensis isolates associated with CL, ML orDL in vitro, then total RNA will be collected at different time points and the expression of immune and nonimmunerelated genes will be assessed by micro array, using specific software packages. The leishmaniasescause a major public health burden with 400 million individuals at risk in tropical and subtropical areas of theglobe. L. braziliensis derived CL, ML and DL present diverse responses to the first line drugs, as well asprognosis. The better understanding of the relationship between parasite strain and disease forms, and ofthe effects of parasite strains on host cells that lead to the diverse outcomes may lead to improvedtherapeutics / prophylaxis, and better case management, with important impact on this disease burden.
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