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. 2017 Sep 29:8:1208.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.01208. eCollection 2017.

Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 1 in Plasma from Soluble Leishmania Antigen-Stimulated Whole Blood as a Potential Biomarker of the Cellular Immune Response to Leishmania infantum

Ana V Ibarra-Meneses  1 , Carmen Sanchez  1 , Jorge Alvar  2 , Javier Moreno  1 , Eugenia Carrillo  1
Affiliations

Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 1 in Plasma from Soluble Leishmania Antigen-Stimulated Whole Blood as a Potential Biomarker of the Cellular Immune Response to Leishmania infantum

Ana V Ibarra-Meneses et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

New biomarkers are needed to identify asymptomatic Leishmania infection as well as immunity following vaccination or treatment. With the aim of finding a robust biomarker to assess an effective cellular immune response, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) was examined in plasma from soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA)-stimulated whole blood collected from subjects living in a Leishmania infantum-endemic area. MCP-1, expressed 110 times more strongly than IL-2, identified 87.5% of asymptomatic subjects and verified some asymptomatic subjects close to the cutoff. MCP-1 was also significantly elevated in all patients cured of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), unlike IL-2, indicating the specific memory response generated against Leishmania. These results show MCP-1 to be a robust candidate biomarker of immunity that could be used as a marker of cure and to both select and follow the population in vaccine phase I-III human clinical trials with developed rapid, easy-to-use field tools.

Keywords: asymptomatic infection; biomarker; chemokines; cytokines; leishmaniasis; monocyte chemotactic protein 1; treatment; whole blood assay.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Levels of monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) (A) and IL-2 (B) in natural plasma and soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA)-stimulated plasma in active visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients compared to cured VL (CVL) after 6 months of treatment. Levels of MCP-1 and IL-2 before and after treatment were analyzed using Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test, *p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Production of MCP-1 and IL-2 in plasma from SLA-stimulated whole blood taken from active visceral leishmaniasis (VL, n = 7), cured visceral leishmaniasis (CVL; n = 14), asymptomatic participants (AS; n = 40) and negative controls (NVL; n = 20). Horizontal bars represent median concentrations. Each dot represents one subject. Data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001. (B) Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showing the sensitivity and specificity of monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) in the detection of asymptomatic individuals. The AUC of MCP-1, p-value, cut-off, sensitivity, and specificity are indicated on the table.
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