Montreal – Work carried out at the National Institute of Scientific Research makes it possible to better understand how the Leishmania parasite survives and reproduces within the human body, which could one day lead to the development of new therapies.
The researchers thus discovered a mechanism by which the parasite appropriates the lipids he needs to survive and to reproduce, but which he is unable to produce himself.
“We lift the veil on a mechanism which remains to be better characterized to possibly identify targets or stages that could be blocked by various pharmacological agents to prevent the parasite from acquiring these lipids,” summed up the main author of the study, Professor Albert Descoteaux, who supervises the work of the first author of the study, doctoral student Ilona Gdavinova.
Leishmania is the cause of a disease, leishmaniasis, which affects approximately one million people per year. Once transmitted to its human or animal host by the bite of an infected insect, the parasite settles in cells of the immune system (macrophages) and multiplies there inside small bubble structures, called umbrella vacuoles.
Ms. Gdovinova has shown that the parasite diverts a protein from the macrophage normally responsible for the transport of lipids between cellular compartments. If we block this protein, the vacuole can no longer grow and the parasite ceases to multiply.
The parasite also uses this protein to attack another part of the infected cell.
“By publishing these results, we say, you see, it is a direction that can be taken to block the acquisition of these (lipids),” concluded Professor Descoteaux.
Leishmaniasis is mainly present in South America, southern Europe, Africa, and India. The World Health Organization calculates that it causes between 20,000 and 30,000 dead per year. The disease is linked to poverty, malnutrition, population travel and limited access to care.
The conclusions of this study were published by the journal Plos Pathogens.
