The aim of this work was determining the role of
Protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathway in apoptosis of
Leishmania tropica promastigotes, through studying effects of PKC
specific inhibitor Staurosporine (STS) on the parasite. Our results
showed
that treated L. tropica with Staurosporine was
enough to inhibit PKC pathway completely, while viability test
showed that the concentration of STS to inhibit cell growth by 50%
(IC50 = 2.146μM).
This study was performed on blood samples of 60 people [21females, 39
males]which have visited the center of leishmaniasis in lattakia city, and their infection
with cutaneous leishmaniasis was confirmed. The people were divided into three age
gro
ups where each group contained 20 patients, the first group [10-18 years,3females and
17males], the second group [19-30 years,8 females,12males],and the third group [31-
50years,10 females and 10males]. The following tests were evaluated to each blood
sample: total white blood cell count, differential white blood cells count, hematocrit test,
and blood group type test.
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the most prevalent
clinical forms of leishmaniasis , also it is endemic disease in Syria. And in
spite of the great efforts to control the disease the annual incidence is still
increased. Furthermore, tourism
, migration, and prevalence of acquired
immunodeficiency (AIDS) all these factors increase the spread of this
disease to new areas around the world.
Recently, studies suggest that cytokines gene polymorphisms can contribute
to resistance or susceptibility to many diseases and one of these diseases is
CL .
Leishmaniasis spreads in eighty-eight countries, including the Syrian Arab
Republic. This disease is caused by a protozoic parasite of the genus
Leishmania. Twenty-two species of leishmania were reported to be pathogenic
for human. The disease is
presented in three clinical forms: cutaneous,
mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. A set of methods for diagnosis and
identifying the type of parasite have been developed in order to give
appropriate treatment. These methods include isoenzyme analysis, serological
and immunological methods and DNA hybridization. The polymerase chain
reaction (PCR), using genomic or kinetoplastid DNA; provides an excellent tool
for diagnosis and characterization of leishmania species. In this work, the two
types of DNA were extracted in one step from cultured isolates taken from
patients. We have used kinetoplastid DNA and specific primers to determine
parasite species by PCR. These primers amplify species specific fragment. In
this study, we have determined that the causative species of the cutaneous
leishmaniasis in all patients was L.tropica.
According to the high specificity and sensitivity of ELISA test, we tried in
this preliminary study, to certify the usefulness of ELISA test in the detection of
specific antibodies (IgG) to cutaneous leishmaniasis(CL) in SYRIA, in order to
certify
the diagnosis of this disease by using the classic methods (observation
microscopic – culture).
In this study the total of ٤١٥ cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis was evaluated
from Dermatology hospital and General clinic in Damascus from February
٢٠٠١ to February ٢٠٠٢. Most of these cases was reported in Damascus and its
suburb, and when we ma
de the direct microscopic test, amastigotes were
detectable in ٢٧١ cases, and the positive cases was increased to ٣٦٤ cases by
realizing the parasite culture into diphasic N. N. N. media, which confirm the
diagnosis.
Patients infected with different species of Leishmania in Syria develop
specific antibodies. For this reason, we have developed an immunodot assay for
the serodiagnosis of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, which utilizes antihuman
IgG conjugat
ed with peroxidase (HRP) as the visualizing agent.
This study evaluated the in vitro
antileishmanial activity of some Phenolic compounds including:
Ferulic acid, Mehtyl Ferulate, Ethyl Ferulate, and Sinapic acid
against leishmanial tropica promastigotes. The parasite viability
was determined using XTT proliferation Kit.
