Evaluation of Pro-Inflammatory Genes Expression in the Spleen and Wounds of BALB/c Mice Infected with Leishmania Major

Leishmania major is a protozoan parasite, which causes cutaneous leishmaniasis. It has been shown that the immune responses induced against the parasite are associated with the host genotype. Although the characteristics of the host immune responses and prevention of the disease through the vaccine have been discussed in many studies, far less attention is paid to the ulceration and inflammatory responses mediated by the innate immune cells in cutaneous leishmaniasis. The main objective of this study was to investigate the expression pattern of pro-inflammatory genes in different stages of cutaneous leishmaniasis progression in order to provide a standard framework for diagnosis of various stages of the disease.
In this study, 1× 107 Leishmania major promastigotes were intradermally injected for the two groups of BALB/c mice on the base of the tail, then the expression of IL-12p35, CCL3, CCL4, IL-12p40, TNF-α, CCL5 , IL -1α, IL-1β, IFN-γ and CCR5 cytokines were examined in the wound and spleen weekly.
Findings: The results showed that Leishmania clearly suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in the wound and spleens of the infected mice treated with PBS but not Glucantime.
Discussion & IFN-γ, IL-12, TNF-α were postulated to be important factors in immunity against Leishmania as their reduction resulted in progressed lesions in the infected mice