CD271+ Mesenchymal Stem Cells as a Possible Infectious Niche for Leishmania infantum.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27622907.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0162927 and PMC identifier 5021359.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious and fatal disease. Therapeutic drugs are toxic and non-sterilizing. The etiological agents Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani cause active and asymptomatic diseases. Effective drugs to treat VL exist but unfortunately, post-treatment relapses are common. Little is known why drugs are non-sterilizing or how these intracellular pathogens can escape treatment. Here, using a murine model of VL we found that CD271+/Sca1+ bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are readily infected in vitro and in vivo by L. infantum. Because BM-MSCs express potent drug efflux pumps, e.g., ABCG2 it is possible that this unique intracellular infectious niche could allow L. infantum to escape anti-parasite drugs.
Medical subject headings
- Leishmania infantum
- Leishmaniasis, Visceral
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells