Iranian Journal of Parasitology (Sep 2013)

Downregulation of Calcineurin Gene is Associated with Glucantime Resiatance in Leishmania Infantum

  • Reza Rafooian,
  • Mojtaba Saffari,
  • Setareh Mamishi,
  • GholamHossein Edrissian,
  • Homa Hajjaran,
  • Elham Kazemirad,
  • Mehdi Mohebali,
  • Mohammad Bagher Khadem Erfan,
  • Mansour Heidari

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 3
pp. 359 – 366

Abstract

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Background: Pentavalent antimonials are the first line drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis. Unresponsiveness of Leishmania spp. to antimonial drugs is a serious problem in some endemic areas. Investigations on molecular mechanisms involved in drug resistance are essential for monitoring and managing of the disease. Calcineu­rin is an essential protein phosphatase for number of signal transduction pathways in eukaryotic cells and it has a mediated role in apoptosis. This study aimed to determine of biomarker(s) in Glucantime® resiatance strain of L. infan­tum.Methods: We used cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) and real time-RT PCR assays to compare gene expression profiles at the mRNA levels in resistant and susceptible L. infantum field isolates.Results: The cDNA-AFLP results showed downlegulation of calcineurin in resis­tant isolate in comparison with susceptible one. Significant downregulation of calcineu­rin (0.42 fold) (P<0.05) was found in resistant isolate compared to suscepti­ble one by Real time-RT PCR.Conclusion: This is the first report of calcineurin implication in Glucantime® drug resistance of field (natural) isolate of L. infantum. Downregulation of calcineurin could protect parasites from antimonial-induced apoptosis.

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