Regulatory T-Cell Profile in Early and Late Lesions of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Due to Leishmania Major



Ghaffarihoseini S¹ ; Haghjooyjavanmard S² ; Zarkesh SH³ ; Khamesipour A⁴ ; Rafiei L² ; Karbalaie K⁵ ; Nilforoushzadeh MA⁶ ; Baghaei M⁷ ; Hejazi SH⁸ Show Affiliations
Source: Journal of Isfahan Medical School Published:2014

Abstract

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a public health problem in several endemic countries. Recent studies on mouse model and a few clinical experiments showed that the type of immune response generated at the site of infection and especially balance between regulatory and effector Tcells determines the outcome of the disease toward self-limiting or long-lasting lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of natural regulatory T-cells (nTregs) in early and late cutaneous lesions of human Leishmania major (L. major) infection. Methods: Skin biopsies were collected from parasitologically proven lesions of 28 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, divided into two groups of early and late lesions. The causative agents were identified to be L. major. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunofluorescent staining of biopsies were used to assess the Foxp3 mRNA expression and frequency of nTregs in two groups. Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the significance of deferences between the two groups. Findings: Mean relative expressions of Foxp3 mRNA were 0.53 ± 0.23 and 1.26 ± 0.99 in early and late lesions, respectively, which was significantly upper in chronic lesions (P = 0.007). Parallel results were obtained in tissue staining method. Conclusion: Increased in gene expression and protein staining of nTreg markers in chronic biopsy samples indicates a role for these cells in chronic L. major induced leishmaniasis and supports the effectiveness of regulatory T cell-based immunotherapy for treatment of chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis.