Murine cathelicidin: as a host defensive response against Leishmania major infection.
Arash AsadiAmir Tavakoli KareshkIraj SharifiNima FirouzehPublished in: Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology (2020)
Leishmaniasis is a serious global challenge with neither efficacious prophylactic vaccine nor effective and safe therapeutic measures. Cathelicidins, members of antimicrobial peptides family, are small proteins of innate immunity system, which represent a protective barrier against a number of potential pathogens in living organisms. The murine cathelicidin or cathelin-related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP) is expressed by a variety of cells or tissues, and highly resembles to human cathelicidin (LL-37). It is naturally expressed at a low concentration in adolescent age, but extensively increases during cutaneous infections. Despite its important role, it has less been investigated in parasitic infections. Among all cells, macrophages and skin cells are the two important cells that directly have a relationship with Leishmania major parasites. The present study aimed to show whether cathelicidins protect their hosts following cutaneous leishmaniasis due to L. major parasites. Both in vitro and in vivo models of L. major infection were established by exposing of J744 cell line (murine macrophages) and BALB/c mice with the stationary phase of L. major promastigotes for 24 h and 7 days. The findings revealed that both macrophages and skin cells significantly (p < 0.05) expressed a high level of CRAMP gene and peptide after challenging with L. major parasites. Thus, our data suggest a protective role for cathelicidins against infections caused by L. major parasites. This experimental model could be considered as a novel potential vaccine candidate for planning future control strategy against human leishmaniasis.
Keyphrases
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- endothelial cells
- cell death
- young adults
- oxidative stress
- mental health
- type diabetes
- multidrug resistant
- machine learning
- dna methylation
- risk assessment
- climate change
- gram negative
- single cell
- cell proliferation
- electronic health record
- plasmodium falciparum
- antimicrobial resistance