Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Higher immune response to Leishmania protein in symptom-free infected
By Nakhaee, Alireza et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2004·Department of Clinical Biochemistry·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Humoral and cellular immune responses against Type I cysteine proteinase of Leishmania infantum are higher in asymptomatic than symptomatic dogs selected from a naturally infected population.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that asymptomatic dogs infected with Leishmania infantum had stronger immune responses compared to those showing symptoms of the disease. Researchers looked at the levels of specific antibodies and immune cells in 13 dogs, with six showing signs of illness and seven remaining healthy despite the infection. The results indicated that the healthy dogs had higher levels of certain antibodies, which could help in diagnosing the disease in dogs that don't show symptoms. This suggests that some dogs can fight off the infection better than others, even when they are infected.
People also search for: dog leishmaniasis symptoms · asymptomatic dog infection · Leishmania treatment for dogs · dog immune response to parasites
Abstract
Canids are natural reservoirs of Leishmania infantum and have been promoted as experimental hosts to decipher the pathogenesis of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In this study, the presence of IgG antibodies as well as the presence of mononuclear leukocytes reactive to different cysteine proteinases (CPs) were examined in 13 L. infantum-infected dogs (six with symptoms, seven asymptomatic). Cysteine proteinases which belong to papain-like enzymes known as clan CA are the most studied CPs of parasite protozoa. These molecules are expressed by the intracellular stages of the parasite and could be immunogenic. We studied Type II CP (CPA) and Type I CP (CPB) with its long C-terminal extension (CTE) which could be highly immunogenic. We showed that the level of antibodies reactive to rCPA is low in both symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs. In contrast, when CPB and CTE were used as antigens, the level of total IgG (with IgG2 superior to IgG1) reached higher values in asymptomatic dogs than in dogs with VL. While the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) reactivity was significant when cultured in the presence of freezed/thawed (F/T) lysate, it remained low in presence of CP although always higher for PBMC recovered from asymptomatic dogs. We showed the importance of CPB and CTE in particular as a target of immune response and their potential use for serodiagnosis in asymptomatic dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14746971/