Asymptomatic immune responders to < i > Leishmania < /i > among HIV positive patients

by Laura Botana, Ana Victoria Ibarra-Meneses, Carmen S ánchez, Alicia Castro, Juan Victor San Martin, Laura Molina, Jose Manuel Ruiz-Giardin, Eugenia Carrillo, Javier Moreno Concomitant infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and theLeishmania parasite is a growing public health problem, the result of the former spreading to areas where the latter is endemic.Leishmania infection is usually asymptomatic in immunocompetent individuals, but the proportion of HIV+ individuals in contact with the parasite who remain asymptomatic is not known. The aim of the present work was to examine the use of cytokine release assays in the detection of asymptomatic immune responders toLeishmania among HIV+ patients with no previous leishmaniasis or current symptomatology. Eighty two HIV+ patients (all from Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain, where a leishmaniasis outbreak occurred in 2009) were examined forLeishmania infantum infection using molecular and humoral response-based methods. None returned a positive molecular or serological result for the parasite. Thirteen subjects showed a positive lymphoproliferative response to solubleLeishmania antigen (SLA), although the mean CD4+ T lymphocyte counts of these patients was below the normal range. Stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or whole blood with SLA (the lymphoproliferative assay and whole blood assay respectively), led to the production of specific cytokines and chemokines. Thus, despite being immunocompromised, ...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research