Leishmania : Current Biology and Control.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (258 pages)
Intro -- Contents -- Contributors -- Current Books of Interest -- Preface -- 1: Modulation of Host Cell miRNA Expression During Leishmania Infection and Emergence of miRNA as a New Therapeutic Molecule -- miRNA-mediated gene regulation in metazoan animals -- miRNA as regulator of cholesterol metabolism in mammals -- Cholesterol regulates pathogenesis of Leishmania donovani -- Leishmania-mediated changes in cholesterol production in mammals -- miRNA expression affected by parasite -- Mechanism of miRNA alteration by Leishmania -- Factors important for host cell miRNA alteration during infection -- miRNA as therapeutic agent -- Future of miRNA as a therapeutic agent against visceral leishmaniasis -- 2: Heat Shock Proteins of Leishmania: Chaperones in the Driver's Seat -- Introduction: heat shock proteins -- Heat shock proteins in Leishmania spp. -- Leishmania and the cell stress -- The pitfalls of analogy-based assumptions -- The chaperone machinery and signal transduction in Leishmania -- Open questions -- Future trends -- Acknowledgements -- 3: Role of Iron in Leishmania-Macrophage Interaction -- Introduction -- Aqueous chemistry and toxicity of iron -- Role of iron in physiology -- Role of iron in the host-parasite interaction -- Special need of iron for Leishmania -- Mammalian iron homeostasis components important for sequestering iron -- Regulation of cellular iron metabolism of mammalian host -- Source of host iron and its acquisition systems in Leishmania -- Summary and future aspects -- 4: Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress Response in Leishmania -- Introduction -- Sources of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide in Leishmania -- Targets of reactive oxygen species in Leishmania -- Defence against reactive oxygen species -- Nitrosative stress in Leishmania -- Generation of reactive nitrogen species. Targets of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in Leishmania -- Cellular defences against nitrosative stress in Leishmania -- Conclusion -- Future perspectives -- 5: Cell Death in a Kinetoplastid Parasite, the Leishmania spp. -- Introduction -- Life cycle of Leishmania spp. -- Treatment of leishmaniasis -- Programmed cell death (PCD) -- Programmed cell death in protozoan parasites -- Relevance of studying cell death in Leishmania -- Apoptosis in Leishmania -- Natural cell death during cell cycle -- Induction of cell death by anti-leishmanial drugs -- Oxidative stress induced cell death -- Role of apoptotic mimicry and apoptosis in Leishmania -- Autophagy in Leishmania -- Future trends -- Conclusion -- 6: Elucidating the Strategies of Immune Evasion by Leishmania -- Introduction -- Defying recognition by the host: modulation of Toll-like receptor-mediated signalling -- Deactivation of host signalling: mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and phosphatases -- Disarming the enemy: inhibition of host microbicidal molecules -- Delaying phagosome maturation: buying time for promastigote to amastigote conversion -- Creating a favourable environment: polarization of Th (T-helper cell) response -- Suppression of antigen presentation: escaping cytotoxic T-cell response -- Protection of niche: inhibition of macrophage apoptosis by Leishmania parasites -- Conclusion -- 7: Role of STAT Signalling in Immunity to Leishmaniasis -- Introduction -- STAT1 and leishmaniasis -- STAT2 and leishmaniasis -- STAT3 and leishmaniasis -- STAT4 and leishmaniasis -- STAT6 and leishmaniasis -- Conclusion -- 8: Leishmania Modulates Toll-like Receptor Signalling in Macrophages -- Introduction -- Innate immune receptors on antigen-presenting cell, macrophage -- Toll-like receptors: structure and its agonists -- Interaction of Leishmania and macrophages. Toll-like receptor signalling upon stimulation with Leishmania surface antigen -- The cumulative effect of Leishmania infection on Toll-like receptors and intra-pattern recognition receptor signalling -- Changes in cytokine synthesis upon synergy within Toll-like receptor stimulations -- Toll-like receptor-Toll-like receptor cross-talk -- Conclusion and future trends -- 9: Role of T-cells in Leishmania Infection -- Introduction -- The widening horizons of T-helper subsets -- CD8+ T-cells response -- T-reg cells as master regulators of immunosuppression -- Evolution of the concept of T-regs in leishmaniasis - a time line -- Contra-regulation -- T-reg biology: lesson learned from leishmaniasis -- T-reg targeting in anti-leishmanial immunotherapy -- Unanswered questions and future perspectives -- Concluding remarks -- 10: Vaccine Biology of Leishmania Infection -- Introduction -- Immunology of Leishmania infection -- Challenges in vaccine development against leishmaniasis -- Rationale of vaccine development against leishmaniasis -- General methods to evaluate vaccine potentials against leishmaniasis -- Antigenic components of Leishmania vaccine -- Vaccine for canine leishmaniasis -- Therapeutic vaccines -- Adjuvants and delivery system -- Summary -- 11: Inhibitors of DNA Topoisomerases as Potential Anti-leishmanial Agents -- Introduction -- Kinetoplastid protozoans express two different kinds of topoisomerases -- Evolutionary aspects of kinetoplastid topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II -- Topoisomerases as therapeutic targets -- Classification of topoisomerase inhibitors -- Topoisomerases as targets for antiparasitic agents -- Conclusion -- 12: Mechanism of Drug Resistance in Visceral Leishmaniasis -- Introduction -- Mechanism of drug resistance -- Conclusion and future trends -- Index.
In this timely book respected Leismania experts distil the important current research highlighting the most insightful discoveries in the field. Topics covered include: modulation of host miRNA; heat shock proteins; Iron in the Leishmania-macrophage interaction; oxidative and nitrosative stress response; cell death; strategies for immune evasion; STAT signalling; parasite modulation of toll-like receptors in macrophages; T cells in Leishmania infection; vaccine biology; inhibitors of Leishmania DNA topoisomerases; and mechanism of drug resistance in visceral Leishmaniasis. An essential text for everyone in the Leishmania community and recommended for researchers working in related fields.