title: Pathologic mechanisms underlying the clinical findings in canine leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum/chagasi.
abstract: In dogs with symptomatic or asymptomatic leishmaniasis, Leishmania infantum appears to induce a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response that in the sick dog may eventually result in tissue damage via different pathomechanisms, notably granulomatous inflammation (eg, nodular dermatitis, osteomyelitis), immune complex deposition (eg, glomerulonephritis), and/or autoantibody production (eg, polymyositis). This is a compensatory but detrimental mechanism generated mainly because of the insufficient killing capacity of macrophages against the parasite in the susceptible dog. Clinical disease is typically exemplified as exfoliative and/or ulcerative dermatitis, with or without nasodigital hyperkeratosis and onychogryphosis, glomerulonephritis, atrophic myositis of masticatory muscles, anterior uveitis, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, epistaxis, and/or polyarthritis, appearing alone or in various combinations. The pathogenesis of these clinical conditions has recently been highlighted, to a greater or lesser extent. The usually subclinical conditions expressed as chronic colitis, chronic hepatitis, vasculitis, myocarditis, osteomyelitis, orchiepididymitis, and meningoencephalomyelitis, though uncommon, are of pathologic importance from a differential point of view. The leading cause of death among canine leishmaniasis patients is chronic proteinuric nephritis that may progress to end-stage kidney disease, nephrotic syndrome, and/or systemic hypertension. However, even the asymptomatic proteinuria, when profuse, may be a serious problem because it predisposes to arterial thromboembolism and eventually contributes to the deterioration of the body condition.
authors: Private Practice, Volos' Quality Veterinary Practice, Kapodistriou 90, 38333, Volos, Greece. Email: sanimed@vet.auth.gr.
authors: A F
authors: AF
authors: Koutinas
authors: C K
authors: CK
authors: Koutinas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Leishmania infantum; clinical disease; dog; leishmaniosis; pathology; pathomechanisms