Genetics of murine leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis encompasses a number of disease syndromes, caused by several species of the digenetic protozoan Leishmania, and is transmitted by sandflies. The mouse model of the disease has been used to identify genes involved in disease susceptibility--for example, the Slc11a1 gene, important in resistance to Leishmania donovani--and to map loci important in Leishmania major infection. The genetics of the host response to L. major has been shown to be complex and to involve much more than the T helper cell response.