Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul;121(7):2009-2017.
doi: 10.1007/s00436-022-07539-y. Epub 2022 May 10.

Exogenous IL-13 exacerbates Leishmania major infection and abrogates acquired immunity to re-infection

Muriel T Zaatar  1 , Youssef Simaan  2 , Marc C Karam  2
Affiliations

Exogenous IL-13 exacerbates Leishmania major infection and abrogates acquired immunity to re-infection

Muriel T Zaatar et al. Parasitol Res. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a major global health issue, affecting more than 88 countries with 0.7-1.2 million new cases per year. T helper polarization plays a significant role in disease outcome, with Th1 responses being associated with resistance and Th2 responses being associated with susceptibility. IL-13 is an important Th2 cytokine with structural and functional similarities to IL-4. In this study, we demonstrate that administering exogenous IL-13 to Leishmania major-infected BALB/c mice increases parasite load in the infected paw and decreases tissue levels of the key Th1/Th2 cytokines IFN-γ and IL-4, respectively. Infecting BALB/c mice with a low dose of L. major has previously been shown to confer resistance to re-infection with a higher dose. In this study, we demonstrate that administration of exogenous IL-13 early in the course of the initial low-dose infection abrogates acquired resistance to high-dose re-infection, as measured by infected paw thickness.

Keywords: Interleukin-13; Leishmania; Leishmaniasis; T helper polarization.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Alexander J, Brombacher F (2012) T helper1/t helper2 cells and resistance/susceptibility to leishmania infection: is this paradigm still relevant? Front Immunol 3:80. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00080 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Alvar J et al (2012) Leishmaniasis worldwide and global estimates of its incidence. PLoS ONE 7(5):e35671. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035671 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Ayrom F, Rasouli S, Shemshadi B (2021) In vitro antileishmanial activity of Achillea santolina essential oil against Leishmania infantum promastigote by methylthiazole tetrazolium (MTT) and trypan blue colorimetric methods. Arch Razi Inst 76(3):529–536. https://doi.org/10.22092/ari.2020.352245.1555 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Biedermann T et al (2001) IL-4 instructs TH1 responses and resistance to Leishmania major in susceptible BALB/c mice. Nat Immunol 2(11):1054–1060. https://doi.org/10.1038/ni725 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bretscher PA et al (1992) Establishment of stable, cell-mediated immunity that makes “susceptible” mice resistant to Leishmania major. Science(New York, NY) 257(5069):539–542. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1636090 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources