Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis Inositol Phosphorylceramide: Distinctive Sphingoid Base Composition.

ABSTRACT: Inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC), the major sphingolipid in the genus Leishmania but not found in mammals, is considered a potentially useful target for chemotherapy against leishmaniasis. Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is endemic in Latin America and causes American tegumentary leishmaniasis. We demonstrated that IPCs are localized internally in parasites, using a specific monoclonal antibody. Treatment with 5 μM myriocin (a serine palmitoyltransferase inhibitor) rendered promastigotes 8-fold less infective than controls in experimental hamster infection, as determined by number of parasites per inguinal lymph node after 8 weeks infection, suggesting the importance of parasite IPC or sphingolipid derivatives in parasite infectivity or survival in the host. IPC was isolat

SUBMITTER: De Castro Levatti EV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5543781 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature