McGill University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 3775 University Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada.
Vaccine. 2013 Feb 27;31(10):1420-5. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.11.065. Epub 2012 Dec 7.
Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by Leishmania protozoa and associated with three main clinical presentations: cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. Visceral leishmaniasis is the second most lethal parasitic disease after malaria and there is so far no human vaccine. Leishmania donovani is a causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis in South East Asia and Eastern Africa. However, in Sri Lanka, L. donovani causes mainly cutaneous leishmaniasis, while visceral leishmaniasis is rare. We investigate here the possibility that the cutaneous form of L. donovani can provide immunological protection against the visceral form of the disease, as a potential explanation for why visceral leishmaniasis is rare in Sri Lanka. Subcutaneous immunization with a cutaneous clinical isolate from Sri Lanka was significantly protective against visceral leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice. Protection was associated with a mixed Th1/Th2 response. These results provide a possible rationale for the scarcity of visceral leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka and could guide leishmaniasis vaccine development efforts.
利什曼病是一种由利什曼原虫引起的被忽视的热带病，与三种主要的临床表现有关：皮肤利什曼病、黏膜皮肤利什曼病和内脏利什曼病。内脏利什曼病是继疟疾之后第二大致命寄生虫病，目前尚无人类疫苗。利什曼原虫是东南亚和东非内脏利什曼病的病原体。然而，在斯里兰卡，利什曼原虫主要引起皮肤利什曼病，而内脏利什曼病则很少见。我们在这里研究了皮肤型利什曼原虫是否有可能为内脏型疾病提供免疫保护，这可能是解释为什么斯里兰卡内脏利什曼病很少见的原因。用来自斯里兰卡的皮肤临床分离株进行皮下免疫接种，可显著保护 BALB/c 小鼠免受内脏利什曼病的侵害。保护作用与混合 Th1/Th2 反应有关。这些结果为斯里兰卡内脏利什曼病的罕见性提供了一个可能的解释，并可能为利什曼病疫苗的开发提供指导。
