Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Leishmaniasis
- The problem of leishmaniasis
throughout tropical and
subtropical regions (Epidemiology)
- Global distribution/incidence of leishmaniasis
- 88 contries affected (tropics and sub-troppics)
- 2 million new cases each year
- 12 million people infected
- 350 million people at risk (will increase with
global warming as insect vector migrates)
- Spectrum of disease (mild to severe)
- Transmission
- Parasite is transmitted by phlebotamine sand flies
- Flies live in; moist soils, stone
walls, rubbish heaps - leishmaniasis
found in a variety of ecosystems
- Only female flies spreadnthe disease
- They are pool feeders (feed of
blood/lymph from an open wound
- do not penetrate the skin)
- Parasite not in salivary gland, but in found in
the anterior portion of the gut and the pharynx
- Two main modes of transmission
- Zoonotic (aimals to people)
- E.g. Transmission in latin america and mediterrenean via dogs
- Anthroponotic (human to human)
- E.g. Indian sub continent (transmission by:
transplants/transfusions, congenital and sharing of needles)
- Causitive agent
- 21 different species of Leismania (most
notably L. donovani, major, infantum (aka
chagasi in the new world) and braziliensis)
- Morphologically indistinguishable (unlike malaria)
- Molecularly distinct - detectable by...
- PCR
- Isoenzyme analysis (by many proteomic techniques)
- Monoclonal Ab's specific to each species
- Major parasite forms
- Promastigote
- Two subforms
- Non-infectious form
- Found in the insect gut/pharynx
- Replicates by binary fission
- Infectious metacyclic form
- Invades host cells (phagocytes)
- Non-replicating
- 15-20um in length, flagellated (motile)
- Structural arrangement: posterior end-nucleus-kinetoplast/flagellal pocket-anterior end
- Flagellum: long, unattached from cell body
- Extracellular forms
- Elongated, with long
flagellum and central
nucleus
- Amastigote
- 2-4um in length, stumpy flagellated (non-motile), divides by binary fission (500+ parasites per host cell)
- Intracellular form
- Structural arrangement: posterior end-nucleus-kinetoplast/flagellal pocket-anterior end
- Flagellum: short, barely projects beyond
the flagellal pocket (non-motile)
- Can invade macrophages
- Transmissile from humans to insect (following blood meal)
- Spherical with
short flagellum and
central nucleus
- The lifecycle of the causitive agent
(Leishmania spp - L. donovani,
major, infantum, braziliensis)
- Sandfly takes a blood meal
- Leishmanial parasite (metacyclic promastigote in fly
gut) transferred directly to the blood (unlike in chagas)
- Infected sandflies have a dysfunctional valve
at the junction of the pharynx and midgut
- Valve cannot close meaning blood can flow backwards
and forwards carrying the parasites to the wound
- Reflux action -> expulsion of the parasite into the bite wound
- This is aided by the secretion of a gel-like substance from
the parasite which forms a physical barrier to fly feeding
- Metacyclic promastigote phagocytised by host neutrophils
- Trojan horse theory (for L. major)
- Infected neutrophil undergoes apoptosis
-> apoptotic bodies phagocytised by
macrophages -> promastigote now in
macrophage-> differentiate (amastigotes
- Or...
- Promastigote differentiates to amastigote in
neutrophil -> replication -> ruputre ->
amastigotes released and infect macrophages
- Both ways lead to the infection of macrophages with amastigote forms
- Amastigotes replicate in macrophages
- Macrophage ruptures, releasing amastigotes into bloodstream to continue cycle
- Sandfly takes a blood meal and
ingests infected host macrophage
- Macrophage rupture and amastigote release in insect gut
- In the insect gut: amastigotes -> non-infectious promastigotes which
attach to the gut wall by LPG (lipophosphoglycan) to avoid excretion
- Non-infectious promastigotes replicate (binary fission)
- Some become metacyclic
promastigotes (infective) - they loose
their LPG (coat change) and move to
the anterior gut ready for transmission
- Host cell invasion
- Mechanism
- Macrophage/neutrophil CR1 or 3 receptor binds to
C3b(i)-bound GP63 on the parasite membrane
- This stimulates phagocytosis (passive invasion of the parasite)
- Cytochalasin D (inhibits
phagocytosis by disrupting actin
polymerisation) inhibit the invasion
- Parasite is now internalised within a phagosome
- Lysosomes fuse with the phagosome
- Lowering the pH (~5.0)
- Low pH triggers differntiation of metacyclic
(infecitous) promastigote to amastigote
- Amastigote replicates in the phagosome
- Amastigotes are masters of
modulating the phagocytes behaviour
- Leishmania inhibit host cell
PKC which prevents NADPH
oxidase complex formation
- Reducing the overall oxidative stress
- Leishmania activate SHP1 (a
host cell tyrosine phosphatase)
- SHP1 dephosphorylates cytokine receptor-bound
JAK (inactivating the JAK-STAT pathway)
- STAT no longer expresses genes that
promote an inflammatory response
- Supression of the inflammatory response
- Lysosomes acidify the phagosome,
add digestive enzymes (lysosymes:
proteases, nuclease and lipases) and
also induce oxidative stress
- Phagosome membrane enzyme NADPH
oxidase complex produces free radicals
(H2O2 and hypochlorate - which produce
hydroxyl radicals un reacting with iron)
- Nitric oxide synthase produces nitric
oxide which reacts with superoxide
free radicals - producing peroxynitrite
- All are deadly to pathogens
- Parasite ligand: GP63 + host C3b(i)
- Macrophage/neutrophil target receptor: CR1
and CR3 (recognise surface bound C3b)
- Disease pathlogy
- Cutaneous leishmaniasis
- Most common manifestation
(5-10 million cases)
- Called; orient/bay sore, uta,
baghdad/dehli/kandahar/lahore boil
- Starts as raised,
painless red lesion
at site of bite
- Lesion can ulcerate
- Wet ulcer = L. major
(typically in rural areas)
- Dry ulcer = L. tropica
(typically seen in citites)
- No pus (unless
bacterial infection
follows)
- Ulcer self-heals, leaving
a scar (esp. L. major)
- Oce healed - individual is immne for life
- Can become diffuse
- Visceral leishmaniasis
- Also known as kala azar (literally
black sickness); or dumdum fever
- Typically caused by: L.
donovani (india/pakistan) or
infantum (mediterreanean; L.
chagasi in latin america)
- Most severe form
- 200-500,000 cases per year
- 50,000 deaths per year
- Mortality = 10-25%
- Generalised infection of
the reticuloendothelial
system (phagocyte cells)
- Also involves; liver, spleen, bone marrow and lymph nodes
- Fever
- Hepatosplenomegaly
with lymphadenopathy
- Anaemia, leukopaenia (WBC deficiency)
and thrombocytopaenia (platelet deficiency)
- Progresses to; malaise, tiredness, lassitude
(a state of mental tiredness) and weakness
- Patient exhibits wasting (even despite a good apetite)
- Common presentation = distended abdomen
(hepatosplenomegaly) with wasted arm musculature
- Secondary
infections are
common
- Diffuse leishmaniasis
- Two
types;
- Diffuse
cutaneous
leishmaniasis
(DCL)
- Limited to cutaneous surfaces - but
metastasises over the entire body
- Non-ulcerated, scaley,lesions (nodular)
- Caused by a lack of immune response (anergy)
- Amastigotes abundant in lesions
- E.g. L. aethiopica
and mexicana
- Mucocutaneous
leishmaniasis
(MCL)
- Primarily a cutaneous form that
metastasises to the mucocutaneous
junctions (e.g. Mouth/nose/soft palate
or anus/genitalia)
- Can occur weeks or
years after initial infection
- Tissue is grossly destroyed causing disfigurement
- Secondary bacterial infections are common
- Mostly L. braziliensis
- Disease severity factors
- Depends on the immune status of the individual
- T-helper lymphocytes (TH1 and TH2)
response determines pathology
- TH1 response
- Cellular immune response stimulated
(e.g. Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes)
- No/low Ab production
- Mild infection (cutaneous)
- Full recovery
- TH2 response
- Stimulates a humoral (Ab) immune response
- High Ab production
- Succumb to infection (visceral form)
- Particularly nasty species
(e.g. L. donovani) actually
trigger a switch from TH1 to
TH2 response
- Immune evasion of
Leishmania spp.
- There are several mechanisms used in the
avoidance of the innate immune repsonse
- The complement cascade (discussed in Chagas mind map)
- Following differentiation in the fly gut from
non-infective promastigote to metacyclic
(infectious) promastigote the parasite coat
changes
- Non-infectious promastigote:
short LPG chains with low
levels of surface protein GP63
- Infectious metacyclic promastigote: has much longer
LPG chains (conceal the membrane proteins) and a
higher level of GP63 surface protein
- Long LPG
- Blocks the MAC forming within the parasite membrane
- Lipophosphoglycan (LPG) - around 3-5million copies per cell
- Structure
- Oligosaccharide capping complex
- Phosphoglycan domain
- Recurring motif of
[galactose-mannose-phosphate]n
- Features side chains
(Galactosyl sidechains)
- These galactosyl side chains bind galectin in the
insect gut (during differentiation into the infectious
promastigote these side chains are capped)
- Arabinosyl caps (prevents binding
of infectious form in the insect gut)
- GP63
- Binds to activated C3b and inactivates it
- Preventing C3 convertase formation
- However, used the bound C3b(i) to
attract macrophages for invasion
- Macrophages phagocytose anything that is bound
to C3b (detected by CR1 and CR3 receptors)
- This is called opsonisation
- CR = comement receptor
- Zinc
metalloproteinase