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The mK ate fluorescent protein expressed by Leishmania mexicana modifies the parasite immunopathogenicity in BALB /c mice
Author(s) -
Diupotex Mariana,
MartínezSalazar María Berenice,
EscalonaMontaño Alma Reyna,
ZamoraChimal Jaime,
SalaizaSuazo Norma,
RuizRemigio Adriana,
RoldánSalgado Abigail,
AguirreGarcía María Magdalena,
MartínezCalvillo Santiago,
Gaytán Paul,
Becker Ingeborg
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1111/pim.12608
Subject(s) - leishmania mexicana , biology , immunogenicity , antibody , leishmania major , immunology , leishmania , parasite hosting , green fluorescent protein , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , virology , gene , biochemistry , world wide web , computer science
Summary Parasites have been engineered to express fluorescent reporter proteins, yet the impact of red fluorescent proteins on Leishmania infections remains largely unknown. We analysed the infection outcome of Leishmania mexicana parasites engineered for the constitutive expression of mK ate protein and evaluated their immunogenicity in BALB /c mice. Infection of BALB /c mice with mK ate transfected L. mexicana (Lmex mKate ) parasites caused enlarged lesion sizes, leading to ulceration, and containing more parasites, as compared to Lmex WT . The mK ate protein showed immunogenic properties inducing antibody production against the mK ate protein, as well as enhancing antibody production against the parasite. The augmented lesion sizes and ulcers, together with the more elevated antibody production, were related to an enhanced number of TNF ‐α and IL ‐1β producing cells in the infected tissues. We conclude that mK ate red fluorescent protein is an immunogenic protein, capable of modifying disease evolution of L. mexicana .