Department of Animal Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Med Hypotheses. 2011 Sep;77(3):416-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.05.032. Epub 2011 Jul 2.
Human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is frequently found in poor population who are suffering from malnutrition in endemic areas. Therefore, obviously they may have reduced levels of leptin due to reduction in number of adipocytes which are major source of leptin production. Human pathogenesis of VL and reduced levels of leptin both are associated with increase in Th2 type immune response, characterized by secretion of cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-10. Whereas, the protective immune response during visceral leishmaniasis is associated with effective Th1 type immune response characterized by secretion of IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-12, which correlates with leptin induction of T cells polarizing to Th1 population and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, and also inhibition of Th2 type response. Therefore, we hypothesized that leptin might be effective in treatment of visceral leishmaniasis alone or VL patients who have co-infection with other immune deficiency syndromes such as AIDS/diabetes/autoimmune disorders by regulation of Th1/Th2 homeostasis.
人类内脏利什曼病（VL）常见于营养不良的流行地区的贫困人口中。因此，由于脂肪细胞数量减少，脂肪细胞是瘦素的主要来源，他们的瘦素水平可能会降低。VL 患者的人类发病机制和瘦素水平降低都与 Th2 型免疫反应增加有关，其特征是分泌细胞因子，如 IL-4 和 IL-10。然而，内脏利什曼病期间的保护性免疫反应与有效的 Th1 型免疫反应有关，其特征是分泌 IFN-γ、IL-2 和 IL-12，这与瘦素诱导 T 细胞向 Th1 群极化和分泌促炎细胞因子有关，同时也抑制 Th2 型反应。因此，我们假设瘦素可能通过调节 Th1/Th2 平衡对内脏利什曼病或合并其他免疫缺陷综合征（如艾滋病/糖尿病/自身免疫性疾病）的 VL 患者单独治疗有效。
