Autoantibodies Status of Leishmanial Patients in Iraq

A total of 145 leishmaniasis Iraqi patients were collected from suspected cases and 30 healthy control. Based on skin smear examination and serum samples analysis, the patients were distributed into two clinical groups: 30 cutaneous leishmaniasis and 30 visceral leishmaniasis patients. The study was conducted for the detection of 17 types of antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in studied groups, 10 types including (anti-ds-DNA, anti-Nucleosome, anti-SmD1, anti-PCNA, anti-SS-A/Ro60kD, anti-SS-A/Ro52kD, anti-SS-B/La, anti-CENP-B, anti-Mi-2 and anti-Ku antibodies), showed significant differences (P?0.05), (P?0.01) in the two groups, while 7 types which were non-significant included (anti-histones, anti-ribosomal P0, anti-Scl70, anti-U1-snRNP, anti-AMA M2, anti-Jo1 and anti-PM-Scl antibodies). With respect to the Anti-cardiolipin IgG antibodies (aCL), it showed a significant increased level in the serum of VL patients (P?0.01) as compared with control group (8.123 vs. 1.959), also as compared with CL patients (8.123 vs. 2.402). As for CL patients, also there was a significant difference (P?0.01) (2.402 vs. 8.123) when compared with VL patients, but no significant variations (2.402 vs. 1.959) were observed in compare with control group. We conclude that Leishmaniasis in iraqi patients may be considered as a cause autoimmune diseases as in case of inflammatory myopathies (IM), and the pathgenesis of human myositis, especially in VL which contributes in the immunological alterations associated with muscle damage. Keywords: Leishmania species, autoantibodies, antinuclear antibodies, anticardiolipin