BackgroundLeishmaniasis defines a cluster of protozoal diseases with diverse clinical manifestations. The visceral form caused by Leishmania donovani is the most severe. So far, no vaccines exist for visceral leishmaniasis despite indications of naturally developing immunity, and sensitive immunodiagnostics are still at early stages of development.Methodology/Principle FindingsEstablishing a proteome-serological methodology, we mapped the antigenicity of the parasites and the specificities of the immune responses in human leishmaniasis. Using 2-dimensional Western blot analyses with sera and parasites isolated from patients in India, we detected immune responses with widely divergent specificities for up to 330 different leishmanial antigens. 68 antigens were assigned to proteins in silver- and fluorochrome-stained gels. The antigenicity of these proteins did not correlate with the expression levels of the proteins. Although some antigens are shared among different parasite isolates, there are extensive differences and no immunodominant antigens, but indications of antigenic drift in the parasites. Six antigens were identified by mass spectrometry.Conclusions/SignificanceProteomics-based dissection of the serospecificities of leishmaniasis patients provides a comprehensive inventory of the complexity and interindividual heterogeneity of the host-responses to and variations in the antigenicity of the Leishmania parasites. This information can be instrumental in the development of vaccines and new immune monitoring and diagnostic devices.

Specification of dorsoventral regional identity in progenitors of the developing telencephalon is a first pivotal step in the development of the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia. Previously, we demonstrated that the two zinc finger and () genes, () and , which are coexpressed in high caudomedial to low rostrolateral gradients in the cerebral cortical primordium, are separately needed for normal formation of the cortical hem, hippocampus, and caudomedial neocortex. We have now addressed the role of and in controlling dorsoventral division of the telencephalon in mice of either sex by comparing the phenotypes of single knock-out (KO) with double KO embryos and by misexpressing in the ventral telencephalon. We find that DMRT3 and DMRT5 act as critical regulators of progenitor cell dorsoventral identity by repressing ventralizing regulators. Early ventral fate transcriptional regulators expressed in the dorsal lateral ganglionic eminence, such as , are upregulated in the dorsal telencephalon of double KO embryos and downregulated when ventral telencephalic progenitors express ectopic Conditional overexpression of throughout the telencephalon produces gene expression and structural defects that are highly consistent with reduced GSX2 activity. Further, double KO embryos show a phenotype similar to double KO embryos, and both DMRT3, DMRT5 and the homeobox transcription factor EMX2 bind to a ventral telencephalon-specific enhancer in the locus. Together, our findings uncover cooperative functions of DMRT3, DMRT5, and EMX2 in dividing dorsal from ventral in the telencephalon. We identified the DMRT3 and DMRT5 zinc finger transcription factors as novel regulators of dorsoventral patterning in the telencephalon. Our data indicate that they have overlapping functions and compensate for one another. The double, but not the single, knock-out produces a dorsal telencephalon that is ventralized, and olfactory bulb tissue takes over most remaining cortex. Conversely, overexpressing throughout the telencephalon causes expanded expression of dorsal gene determinants and smaller olfactory bulbs. Furthermore, we show that the homeobox transcription factor EMX2 that is coexpressed with DMRT3 and DMRT5 in cortical progenitors cooperates with them to maintain dorsoventral patterning in the telencephalon. Our study suggests that DMRT3/5 function with EMX2 in positioning the pallial-subpallial boundary by antagonizing the ventral homeobox transcription factor GSX2.

The protein kinase C (PKC) family regulates macrophage function involved in host defense against infection. In the case of Leishmania donovani infection, the impairment of PKC-mediated signaling is one of the crucial events for the establishment of parasite into the macrophages. Earlier reports established that C-C chemokines mediated protection against leishmaniasis via the generation of nitric oxide after 48 h. In this study, we investigated the role of MIP-1␣ and MCP-1 in the regulation of impaired PKC activity in the early hours (6 h) of infection. These chemokines restored Ca 2؉ -dependent PKC activity and inhibited Ca 2؉ -independent atypical PKC activity in L. donovani-infected macrophages under both in vivo and in vitro conditions. Pretreatment of macrophages with chemokines induced superoxide anion generation by activating NADPH oxidase components in infected cells. Chemokine administration in vitro induced the migration of infected macrophages and triggered the production of reactive oxygen species. In vivo treatment with chemokines significantly restricted the parasitic burden in livers as well as in spleens. Collectively, these results indicate a novel regulatory role of C-C chemokines in controlling the intracellular growth and multiplication of L. donovani, thereby demonstrating the antileishmanial properties of C-C chemokines in the disease process.

No abstract