Publication
Title
**Leishmania**-macrophage interaction : insights into the redox biology
Author
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects about 350 million individuals worldwide. The protozoan parasite has a relatively simple life cycle with two principal stages: the flagellated mobile promastigote living in the gut of the sandfly vector and the intracellular amastigote within phagolysosomal vesicles of the vertebrate host macrophage. This review presents a state-of-the-art overview of the redox biology at the parasite-macrophage interface. Although Leishmania species are susceptible in vitro to exogenous superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide and peroxynitrite, they manage to survive the endogenous oxidative burst during phagocytosis and the subsequent elevated nitric oxide production in the macrophage. The parasite adopts various defense mechanisms to cope with oxidative stress: the lipophosphoglycan membrane decreases superoxide radical production by inhibiting NADPH oxidase assembly and the parasite also protects itself by expressing antioxidant enzymes and proteins. Some of these enzymes could be considered as potential drug targets since they are not expressed in mammals. In respect to antileishmanial therapy, the effects of current drugs on parasite-macrophage redox biology and its involvement in the development of drug resistance and treatment failure are presented.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Free radical biology and medicine. - New York, N.Y.
Publication
New York, N.Y. : 2011
ISSN
0891-5849
DOI
10.1016/J.FREERADBIOMED.2011.05.011
Volume/pages
51 :2 (2011) , p. 337-351
ISI
000292352500010
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 18.05.2011
Last edited 15.11.2022
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