Leishmania tropica: immunopathology and genetic control

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania and transmitted by female sand flies. The outcome of Leishmania infection depends both on host and pathogen factors. Similarly as L. major, L. tropica very often causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in humans, but in rare occasions can also visceralize and cause systemic disease. Leishmaniasis cause by L. tropica has become a major public health problem in different endemic foci due to recent outbreaks in several urban areas and spread to new regions. The complications of the disease and lack of safe and effective drug and vaccine against the L. tropica infection require considerable attention to studies of the host-L. tropica interaction. Until recently, the research of leishmaniasis caused by L. tropica was limited due to lack of suitable inbred model and difficulties in inducing infection in animals. The aims of the present project were development of a suitable mouse model of the infection caused by L. tropica, and the study of mechanisms of the disease, and also mapping controlling genes/loci. We analysed susceptibility to L. tropica infection using recombinant congenic (RC) CcS/Dem mouse strains. These strains differ greatly in susceptibility to L. major due to random distribution of 12.5% of STS..