Open AccessTransient knockdown of Nucleoside transporter 4 gene expression as a therapeutic target in Leishmania major by antisense RNA: In vitro and in vivo studies
Author(s) -
Farideh Tohidi,
Zahra Babaei,
Bahram Kazemi,
Mojgan Bandehpour,
Iraj Sharifi,
Mohammad Reza Rabiei,
Ebrahim Saedi Dezaki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of vector borne diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.581
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 0972-9062
DOI - 10.4103/0972-9062.263718
Subject(s) - gene knockdown , in vivo , in vitro , nucleoside , biology , gene expression , rna , rna interference , leishmania , gene , chemistry , parasite hosting , genetics , world wide web , computer science
Leishmania parasites cause various clinical symptoms in humans such as cutaneous ulcers and fatal visceral diseases. These parasites cannot synthesize purine rings de novo and must uptake purines from their hosts via salvage. Salvage is regulated by permeases in the cell membrane. There are hundreds of membrane transporter proteins to receive nutrients in Leishmania. Nucleoside transporter 4 (NT4) is one of the purine transporters that is involved in enhancing the uptake of adenine in Leishmania major. They are important new drug targets for the treatment of leishmaniasis because they can be used to transport toxic purine analogs to kill parasitic cells, thus preventing the progression of the infection. The present study was conducted to silence the NT4 nucleobase involved in the salvage pathway to interrupt purine nucleotide membrane transport in the cells of L. major.