What's new for 'Trypanosomatids' in PubMed

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Sent on Friday, 2011 Mar 11
Search kinetoplastids OR kinetoplastid OR Kinetoplastida OR "trypanosoma brucei" OR leishmania OR brucei OR leishmaniasis OR "African trypanosomiasis"
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PubMed Results

Items 1 - 7 of 7

1.	Anal Bioanal Chem. 2011 Mar 11. [Epub ahead of print] Erratum to: Towards an unbiased metabolic profiling of protozoan parasites: optimisation of a Leishmania sampling protocol for HILIC-orbitrap analysis. T'kindt R, Jankevics A, Scheltema RA, Zheng L, Watson DG, Dujardin JC, Breitling R, Coombs GH, Decuypere S. Department of Parasitology, Unit of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium.
	PMID: 21390566 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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2.	PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Mar 1;5(3):e965. BALB/c Mice Infected with Antimony Treatment Refractory Isolate of Leishmania braziliensis Present Severe Lesions due to IL-4 Production. Costa DL, Carregaro V, Lima-Júnior DS, Silva NM, Milanezi CM, Cardoso CR, Giudice A, de Jesus AR, Carvalho EM, Almeida RP, Silva JS. Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Abstract BACKGROUND: Leishmania braziliensis is the main causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil. Protection against infection is related to development of Th1 responses, but the mechanisms that mediate susceptibility are still poorly understood. Murine models have been the most important tools in understanding the immunopathogenesis of L. major infection and have shown that Th2 responses favor parasite survival. In contrast, L. braziliensis-infected mice develop strong Th1 responses and easily resolve the infection, thus making the study of factors affecting susceptibility to this parasite difficult. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we describe an experimental model for the evaluation of the mechanisms mediating susceptibility to L. braziliensis infection. BALB/c mice were inoculated with stationary phase promastigotes of L. braziliensis, isolates LTCP393(R) and LTCP15171(S), which are resistant and susceptible to antimony and nitric oxide (NO), respectively. Mice inoculated with LTCP393(R) presented larger lesions that healed more slowly and contained higher parasite loads than lesions caused by LTCP15171(S). Inflammatory infiltrates in the lesions and production of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-10 and TGF-β were similar in mice inoculated with either isolate, indicating that these factors did not contribute to the different disease manifestations observed. In contrast, IL-4 production was strongly increased in LTCP393(R)-inoculated animals and also arginase I (Arg I) expression. Moreover, anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment resulted in decreased lesion thickness and parasite burden in animals inoculated with LTCP393(R), but not in those inoculated with LTCP15171(S). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that the ability of L. braziliensis isolates to induce Th2 responses affects the susceptibility to infection with these isolates and contributes to the increased virulence and severity of disease associated with them. Since these data reflect what happens in human infection, this model could be useful to study the pathogenesis of the L. braziliensis infection, as well as to design new strategies of therapeutic intervention.
	PMID: 21390155 [PubMed - in process]
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3.	J Clin Microbiol. 2011 Mar 9. [Epub ahead of print] Noninvasive Molecular Diagnosis of Human Visceral Leishmaniasis. Vaish M, Mehrotra S, Chakravarty J, Sundar S. Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221005, India. Abstract Previously developed methods for non invasive PCR diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis have significant limitations. Buccal swab PCR diagnosis was evaluated in 307 subjects incorporating 148 confirmed VL cases. This method is simple, well tolerated and has good potential for development, showing 83% sensitivity with 90.56% specificity in control groups.
	PMID: 21389158 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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4.	Lancet. 2011 Feb 12;377(9765):610. Heat, Oriental sore, and HIV. Prasad N, Ghiya BC, Bumb RA, Kaushal H, Saboskar AA, Lezama-Davila CM, Salotra P, Satoskar AR. Department of Dermatology, STD and Leprosy, SP Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
	PMID: 21315946 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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5.	Mymensingh Med J. 2010 Oct;19(4):529-32. Kala azar in Pregnancy. Miah MT, Ayaz FM, Maniruzzaman M, Ahasan MN, Bari S, Mawla SM, Mahbub MS, Khan AI. Department of Medicine, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Abstract Kala azar (KA) is one of the most important tropical diseases. More so is the issue of KA in pregnancy. In this retrospective study we tried to find out the out come of pregnant patient treated with Sodium Antimony Gluconate (SAG) for KA in one of the most endemic area of Bangladesh, Fulbaria. SAG is the available and registered drug for treatment of KA patient with pregnancy in Bangladesh. A total of 16 pregnant women presented with KA during the study period of 2005 to 2009. Out of the 16 patients 11 had abortion and they were all with in the 16 to 22nd week of pregnancy. The abortion took place mostly on the 22nd to 24th day of treatment when the patient had become afebrile. Rest of the 5 patients was in their 30 to 34th week of pregnancy and had good obstetric outcome. All the 16 patients were clinically cured at the end of treatment. No follow up records were available and there was no data regarding the 5 children. It is of our opinion that the abortions were induced by SAG and therefore we recommend that SAG should not be used in early or mid pregnancy for treating KA.
	PMID: 20956894 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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6.	Int J Infect Dis. 2010 Nov;14(11):e974-7. Epub 2010 Sep 15. Evidence of Chagas disease in seronegative Brazilian patients with megaesophagus. Batista AM, Aguiar C, Almeida EA, Guariento ME, Wanderley JS, Costa SC. Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, PO Box 6111, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Abstract BACKGROUND: After 100 years of research, Chagas disease (CD) remains an important public health problem in Latin America. The symptomatic chronic phase is usually characterized by cardiac or digestive involvement and diagnosis currently relies on the measurement of Trypanosoma cruzi-specific antibodies produced in response to the infection. However, the detection of parasite DNA in seronegative persons has been reported. METHODS: The prevalence of CD in a population with esophageal disorders was assessed by conventional serology. We also detected T. cruzi DNA in blood samples of seronegative and inconclusive patients by nested polymerase chain reaction (N-PCR). RESULTS: The seroprevalence of CD determined by conventional serologic tests (indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)) was 79% in 513 patients with esophageal disorders. Out of 41 blood samples, N-PCR was positive in 31 (76%) cases for which serology was negative or inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: As all patients presented with clinical signs suggestive of the digestive form of CD and most of them were born in endemic areas, we highlight the importance of improving diagnosis of the disease and the implications for blood bank screening. Our data suggest that N-PCR is effective in the detection of T. cruzi DNA in patients with inconclusive or negative serology, and it may eventually be useful in the determination of the etiology of megaesophagus. Copyright © 2010 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
	PMID: 20833571 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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7.	Protein Expr Purif. 2011 Jan;75(1):95-103. Epub 2010 Sep 7. Production of congopain, the major cysteine protease of Trypanosoma (Nannomonas) congolense, in Pichia pastoris reveals unexpected dimerisation at physiological pH. Boulangé AF, Khamadi SA, Pillay D, Coetzer TH, Authié E. UMR 17 IRD-CIRAD Trypanosomes, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. boulange@cirad.fr, abk32a@gmail.com Abstract African animal trypanosomosis (nagana) is arguably the most important parasitic disease affecting livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. Since none of the existing control measures are entirely satisfactory, vaccine development is being actively pursued. However, due to antigenic variation, the quest for a conventional vaccine has proven elusive. As a result, we have sought an alternative 'anti-disease vaccine approach', based on congopain, a cysteine protease of Trypanosoma congolense, which was shown to have pathogenic effects in vivo. Congopain was initially expressed as a recombinant protein in bacterial and baculovirus expression systems, but both the folding and yield obtained proved inadequate. Hence alternative expression systems were investigated, amongst which Pichia pastoris proved to be the most suitable. We report here the expression of full length, and C-terminal domain-truncated congopain in the methylotrophic yeast P. pastoris. Differences in yield were observed between full length and truncated proteins, the full length producing 2-4 mg of protein per litre of culture, while the truncated form produced 20-30 mg/l. The protease was produced as a proenzyme, but underwent spontaneous activation when acidified (pH <5). To investigate whether this activation was due to autolysis, we produced an inactive mutant (active site Cys→Ala) by site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant form was produced at a much higher rate, up to 100mg/l culture, as a proenzyme. It did not undergo spontaneous cleavage of the propeptide when subjected to acidic pH suggesting an autocatalytic process of activation for congopain. These recombinant proteins displayed a very unusual feature for cathepsin L-like proteinases, i.e. complete dimerisation at pH >6, and by reversibly monomerising at acidic pH <5. This attribute is of utmost importance in the context of an anti-disease vaccine, given that the epitopes recognised by the sera of trypanosome-infected trypanotolerant cattle appear dimer-specific. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
	PMID: 20828616 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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