Gene expression profiling of human macrophage infected with leishmania major

This study has been conducted & Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science in Zoology, Department of Zoology, Collage of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2008G.Macrophages are the first line of defense that protect human body from pathogenic infection by recognition and removal of foreign microorganisms. However, species of the protozoan parasite Leishmania species not only enter macrophages, but also use them for growth and proliferation. How Leishmania modulates the function of macrophage is still a subject for intense investigation worldwide. This project studied macrophage-Leishmania interaction by tracing the change in gene expression at different times after exposure of macrophage to the parasite. THP-1 (human monocytic leukemia cells) was differentiated into Macrophage in vitro by inducing them with Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). THP-1 were exposed to Leishmania major for 30 min, 3h, 6h, 12h and 24h. Infected MØMs total RNA was extracted and used for Exon arrays to determine gene expression profiling at exon level. We have determined the most suitable concentration of PMA for inducing THP-1 into macrophages by Flow cytometry. Fifty nM of PMA induced 87.99% of the monocyte into macrophage. Tِhe outcome of data analysis introduced us to 1500 dysregulated genes at 30 min and 24 hr of the infection. Most of those genes were never previously related to or studied due toLeishmania infection. The data analysis of those genes included their biological function and their effect on cellular components. Such results are considered to be of a great value and need further research to be confirmed by RT-PCR, northern blotting and other proteomics experiments to find out new aspects of treatment or vaccination against Leishmaniasis.This study was funded and supported by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)