Background: Anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) due to Leishmania tropica and zoonotic CL (ZCL) due to L major have different clinical and epidemiological features. Objectives: To determine whether pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in diverse pathogenicity of Leishmania species causing CL. Patients/Methods: The capacity of L major/L tropica to modulate expression of IL-1β, IL-8 (CXCL8), IFNγ, TNFα and MCP-1 (CCL2) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) was evaluated by real-time RT-PCR technique.Results: PBMCs from both ZCL and ACL cases expressed significantly higher IFNγ (P < .001) and TNFα (P < .05) compared with healthy controls (HC). PBMCs from ACL patients expressed significantly higher IL-1β and IL-8 compared with ZCL patients and HC when stimulated with live L major or L tropica promastigotes (P < .001).After 4 and 10 hours, L major-infected MDMs expressed significantly higher IFNγ (P < .05), and after 10 hours, L tropica-infected MDMs expressed significantly higher IL-1β, IFNγ and IL-8 compared with noninfected cells (P < .05). Conclusions:This study shows differential parasite-mediated stimulations of the inflammatory response with L major vs L tropica ex vivo. Pro-inflammatory cytokines particularly IL-8 (CXCL8) and IL-1β might contribute in diverse clinical features of CL such as longer duration of lesion persistence in ACL patients.

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