Leishmania infantum is a protozoan parasite that causes visceral leishmaniasis (VL). This infection triggers dendritic cell (DC)activation through the recognition of microbial products by Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Among the TLRs, TLR9 is required for DC activation by different Leishmania species. We demonstrated that TLR9 is upregulated in vitro and in vivo during infection. We show that C57BL/6 mice deficient in TLR9 expression (TLR9 ؊/؊ mice) are more susceptible to infection and display higher parasite numbers in the spleen and liver. The increased susceptibility of TLR9 ؊/؊ mice was due to the impaired recruitment of neutrophils to the infection foci associated with reduced levels of neutrophil chemoattractants released by DCs in the target organs. Moreover, both Th1 and Th17 cells were also committed in TLR9 ؊/؊ mice. TLR9-dependent neutrophil recruitment is mediated via the MyD88 signaling pathway but is TIR domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon beta (TRIF) independent. Furthermore, L. infantum failed to activate both plasmacytoid and myeloid DCs from TLR9 ؊/؊ mice, which presented reduced surface costimulatory molecule expression and chemokine release. Interestingly, neutrophil chemotaxis was affected both in vitro and in vivo when DCs were derived from TLR9 ؊/؊ mice. Our results suggest that TLR9 plays a critical role in neutrophil recruitment during the protective response against L. infantum infection that could be associated with DC activation. L eishmania intracellular protozoan parasites cause a heterogeneous disease that can range from cutaneous lesions to visceral disease. Visceral disease can be caused by both Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum and is the most severe manifestation of this type of parasite infection. Therefore, Leishmania infections remain an important cause of human mortality and morbidity around the world (www.paho.org/english/ad/dpc/cd /res-dch-leish-priorities.pdf).Host defenses against Leishmania spp. depend on the activation of an inflammatory response initiated by the innate immune system (1), followed by specific immune responses mediated by gamma interferon (IFN-␥)-or interleukin-17 (IL-17)-producing CD4 ϩ T lymphocytes (2, 3). The innate immune system has specific mechanisms to rapidly recognize the parasite. A major component of pathogen recognition comprises a family of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) that detect common pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) of various groups of microorganisms (4-7), including Leishmania spp. (8, 9).The role of TLRs in Leishmania infection control has been supported by the observations that mice lacking MyD88, an adaptor molecule required for TLR signaling, display enhanced susceptibility to infection (10, 11). It has been described that resistance to Leishmania species infection is dependent on parasite lipophosphoglycan (LPG) recognition by TLR2 (8), the induction of IL-12, and the development of a Th1 immune response (12) together with NO production (13). Previous studies demonstrated a role for TLR2 and TLR3 i...