Open AccessCD271+ Mesenchymal Stem Cells as a Possible Infectious Niche for Leishmania infantum
Author(s) -
Carolina Lopes,
Nada S. Daifalla,
Bikul Das,
Valdo Dias da Silva,
Antônio Campos-Neto
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0162927
Subject(s) - leishmania infantum , mesenchymal stem cell , visceral leishmaniasis , leishmania donovani , leishmaniasis , leishmania , biology , bone marrow , immunology , virology , parasite hosting , microbiology and biotechnology , world wide web , computer science
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious and fatal disease. Therapeutic drugs are toxic and non-sterilizing. The etiological agents Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani cause active and asymptomatic diseases. Effective drugs to treat VL exist but unfortunately, post-treatment relapses are common. Little is known why drugs are non-sterilizing or how these intracellular pathogens can escape treatment. Here, using a murine model of VL we found that CD271+/Sca1+ bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are readily infected in vitro and in vivo by L . infantum . Because BM-MSCs express potent drug efflux pumps, e.g., ABCG2 it is possible that this unique intracellular infectious niche could allow L . infantum to escape anti-parasite drugs.