Determinants of susceptibility/resistance and natural history of L. major infection in endemic foci include environmental and host related risk factors. Our long term goal is to elucidate the natural history of L. major infection and to weight the relative importance of host related risk factors of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) emergence and severity considering the confounding effect of environmental factors influencing exposure. The specific hypothesis is that the natural history of L. major infection and the clinical expression of cutaneous leishmaniasis varies according to past history of transmission and to the type of biotope in the study area. Host related immunological surrogates of protection other than leishmanin skin test (LSI)prior to transmission might explain resistance to the disesase and might be used as efficacy criteria in the context of vaccines'evaluation in the field. Based on these observations the focus of project 1 is to refine bya prospective cohort population based study the estimation of the epidemetric parameters and clinical description of disease and transmission dynamics to improve the understanding of natural history of Leishmania (L.)major infection and its determinants.
The specific aims are to: 1. Elucidate epidemetric parameters of L. major infection. We will use leishmanin skin test (LST) and clinical observations, the incidence of CL versus asymptomatic infection (LST+/lesions-) in a two years prospective study in order to determine: i) the prevalence of LST positivity, ii) the rate of conversion and reversion of LST, iii)the incidence of symptomatic/ asymptomatic infection, iv) the score severity of disease, v) the rate of recurrence, vi) the predictive value and the protection fraction of LST positivity. 2. To evaluate the relative importance of immune host related factors and environmental on the natural history and clinical expression of the disease. These include LST, cytotoxic immune response and antibodies against sand flies'saliva antigens, distance to colonized area by reservoirs, characteristics of dwelling and its compound, socio-economic factors and pathogenic properties of L. major isolates. 3. To develop and validate scales for severity of cutaneous lesions and quality of resulting scars. The scale items include size of the ulcer, color (hypopigmentation, hyperpigmentation, normal skin) and height.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Specialized Center (P50)
Project #
5P50AI074178-03
Application #
7938635
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2009-08-01
Budget End
2010-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$145,368
Indirect Cost
Name
Institute Pasteur de Tunis
Department
Type
DUNS #
499250553
City
Tunis
State
Country
Tunisia
Zip Code
1002
Ghouila, Amel; Guerfali, Fatma Z; Atri, Chiraz et al. (2017) Comparative genomics of Tunisian Leishmania major isolates causing human cutaneous leishmaniasis with contrasting clinical severity. Infect Genet Evol 50:110-120
Kammoun-Rebai, Wafa; Naouar, Ikbel; Libri, Valentina et al. (2016) Protein biomarkers discriminate Leishmania major-infected and non-infected individuals in areas endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis. BMC Infect Dis 16:138
Naouar, Ikbel; Boussoffara, Thouraya; Chenik, Mehdi et al. (2016) Prediction of T Cell Epitopes from Leishmania major Potentially Excreted/Secreted Proteins Inducing Granzyme B Production. PLoS One 11:e0147076
Marzouki, Soumaya; Kammoun-Rebai, Wafa; Bettaieb, Jihene et al. (2015) Validation of Recombinant Salivary Protein PpSP32 as a Suitable Marker of Human Exposure to Phlebotomus papatasi, the Vector of Leishmania major in Tunisia. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 9:e0003991
Harrabi, Myriam; Bettaieb, Jihène; Ghawar, Wissem et al. (2015) Spatio-temporal Genetic Structuring of Leishmania major in Tunisia by Microsatellite Analysis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 9:e0004017
Kharrat, Nadia; Aissa, Imen; Sghaier, Manel et al. (2014) Lipophilization of ascorbic acid: a monolayer study and biological and antileishmanial activities. J Agric Food Chem 62:9118-27
Ghawar, Wissem; Attia, Hanène; Bettaieb, Jihene et al. (2014) Genotype profile of Leishmania major strains isolated from tunisian rodent reservoir hosts revealed by multilocus microsatellite typing. PLoS One 9:e107043
Naouar, Ikbel; Boussoffara, Thouraya; Ben Ahmed, Melika et al. (2014) Involvement of different CD4(+) T cell subsets producing granzyme B in the immune response to Leishmania major antigens. Mediators Inflamm 2014:636039
Bettaieb, Jihene; Toumi, Amine; Chlif, Sadok et al. (2014) Prevalence and determinants of Leishmania major infection in emerging and old foci in Tunisia. Parasit Vectors 7:386
Lemaire, Julien; Mkannez, Ghada; Guerfali, Fatma Z et al. (2013) MicroRNA expression profile in human macrophages in response to Leishmania major infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7:e2478

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