Complete conservation of an immunogenic gene (lcr1) in Leishmania infantum and Leishmania chagasi isolated from Iran, Spain and Brazi

Abstract

Background & objectives: Kala-azar is the visceral and most severe form of leishmaniasis thatleads to death if untreated. The causative agents of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are members ofLeishmania (L.) donovani complex which includes L. chagasi and L. infantum. Genome sequenceshave raised the question whether L. chagasi and L. infantum are synonymous or different. Thisquestion has important implications for clinical and epidemiological studies, evaluation of vaccinesand drugs, and disease control. LCR1 is an immunogenic molecule discovered from L. chagasiwith potential as a component of a Leishmania subunit vaccine. If this protein has potentials forbeing used in a vaccine or diagnostic testing, there should be little variability in this moleculebetween L. infantum isolates from diverse geographic regions. The aim of this study was to determinewhether lcr1 of an Iranian strain of L. infantum was identical to lcr1 of both L. infantum strainfrom a different geographic region (Spain) and that of an L. chagasi isolate from Brazil.Methods: L. infantum isolated from an Iranian kala-azar patient was studied. Lcr1 from this isolatewas PCR amplified, cloned, and studied by restriction digest analysis and sequencing.Results: The sequences of lcr1 of the Iranian L. infantum were completely identical at nucleotidelevel to lcr1 sequences of both the Spanish L. infantum and the Brazilian L. chagasi strains.Conclusion: Complete conservation of the DNA sequence encoding for LCR1 molecule betweengeographically distinct Leishmania species adds credibility to the potential for LCR1 as a componentof a subunit vaccine and diagnostic test for kala-azar