Arginine and Polyamines Fate in Leishmania Infection

Author(s)

Muxel, Sandra M. ^[1] ; Aoki, Juliana I. ^[1] ; Fernandes, Juliane C. R. ^[1] ; Laranjeira-Silva, Maria F. ^[1] ; Zampieri, Ricardo A. ^[1] ; Acuna, Stephanie M. ^[1] ; Muller, Karl E. ^[2] ; Vanderlinde, Rubia H. ^[1] ; Floeter-Winter, Lucile M. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biosci, Dept Physiol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Bergen, Dept Clin Sci, Bergen - Norway

• Document type: Review article
• Source: FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY; v. 8, JAN 15 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 12

Abstract

Leishmania is a protozoan parasite that alternates its life cycle between the sand fly and the mammalian host macrophages, involving several environmental changes. The parasite responds to these changes by promoting a rapid metabolic adaptation through cellular signaling modifications that lead to transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression regulation and morphological modifications. Molecular approaches such as gene expression regulation, next-generation sequencing (NGS), microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling, in cell Western blot analyses and enzymatic activity profiling, have been used to characterize the infection of murine BALB/c and C57BL/6 macrophages, as well as the human monocytic cell-lineage THP-1, with Leishmania amazonensis wild type (La-WT) or arginase knockout (La-arg(-)). These models are being used to elucidate physiological roles of arginine and polyamines pathways and the importance of arginase for the establishment of the infection. In this review, we will describe the main aspects of Leishmania-host interaction, focusing on the arginine and polyamines pathways and pointing to possible targets to be used for prognosis and/or in the control of the infection. The parasite enzymes, arginase and nitric oxide synthase-like, have essential roles in the parasite survival and in the maintenance of infection. On the other hand, in mammalian macrophages, defense mechanisms are activated inducing alterations in the mRNA, miRNA and enzymatic profiles that lead to the control of infection. Furthermore, the genetic background of both parasite and host are also important to define the fate of infection. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/22896-4 - MicroRNA profile of human macrophages derived from the THP-1 cell line infected with Leishmania (L.) amazonensis
• Grantee: Juliane Cristina Ribeiro Fernandes
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 16/19815-2 - Role of miRNAs in the TLRs-mediated immune response to Leishmania amazonensis infection
• Grantee: Sandra Marcia Muxel
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/50717-1 - Biochemical, physiological and functional genomic studies of Leishmania-macrophage interaction
• Grantee: Lucile Maria Floeter-Winter
• Support type: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 15/25942-4 - Establishment profiles expression of miRNA of infected murine macrophages by Leishmania (L.) amazonensis
• Grantee: Stephanie Maia Acuna
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation