Heterologous expression of the chitinase enzyme of Leishmania (L.) infantum chagas...
| Grant number: | 18/23302-6 |
| Support type: | Regular Research Grants |
| Duration: | February 01, 2019 - January 31, 2021 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Parasitology |
| Principal Investigator: | Selma Giorgio |
| Grantee: | Selma Giorgio |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil |
| Assoc. researchers: | Nahiara Esteves Zorgi |
Abstract
Leishmaniasis are neglected parasitic diseases. These endemic diseases from tropical and subtropical areas have as main prophylactic measures treatment of human patients and the use of insecticides. There are no vaccines for use in humans and drugs exhibited side effects and resistance. There is a great clinical diversity attributed to host factors and parasite inter- and intra-specific variations. This project is divided in three subprojects. The phenotypic profile (infectivity, growth in axenic culture and drugs susceptibility) of clinical isolates from the Campinas SP region will be analyzed after culture, cryopreservation and species identification. In the second subproject the objective is to validate the lesion ex vivo cellular system for Leishmania amazonensis (CD11b+CD14 + F4/80+ CD68 + myeloid cells) developed in our laboratory, testing the efficacy of common antileishmanial drugs. Leishmania infantum suicidal transgenic lines developed in the laboratory are parasites transfected with pCherry-amastine plasmids containing genes of toxic proteins expressed in the amastigotes, and which are toxic after differentiation process. In this subproject we will evaluate humoral and cellular immune responses, hepatic and splenic granulomas patterns in infected and immunized mice. (AU)