Role of macrophage cytoskeleton in Leishmania (L.) amazonensis infection

• Grant number: 14/04714-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Mauro Javier Cortez Véliz
• Grantee: Viviane Carvalho de Lima
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Protozoa of the genus Leishmania have developed different strategies to survive in a hostile environment such as the phagolysosome of the immune cells of the host. Several data in the immunobiology of Leishmania have emerged over the years, but there are still many gaps in knowledge about the characteristics presented by various species of Leishmania that promote different pathologies and degrees of infection and translated in different forms of leishmaniasis. Thus, a better knowledge of the characteristics of the host cell-pathogen relationship in the different presentations of the disease needs to be deepened. The main objective of this proposal is to analyze molecules that are part of the cytoskeleton, such as tubulin and actin, the host cell, and to study their association with the formation of the parasitophorous vacuole. Thus, the purpose of this project is to elucidate important aspects of the cell biology of Leishmania infection and understand one of the most important events such as the parasitophorous vacuole biogenesis will be prepared and molded for parasite survival within this structure. (AU)