title: Protein malnutrition impairs the immune response and influences the severity of infection in a hamster model of chronic visceral leishmaniasis.
abstract: Leishmaniasis remains one of the world's most devastating neglected tropical diseases. It mainly affects developing countries, where it often co-exists with chronic malnutrition, one of the main risk factors for developing the disease. Few studies have been published, however, on the relationship between leishmaniasis progression and malnutrition. The present paper reports the influence of protein malnutrition on the immune response and visceral disease development in adult hamsters infected with Leishmania infantum fed either standard or low protein diets. The low protein diet induced severe malnutrition in these animals, and upon infection with L. infantum 33% had severe visceral leishmaniasis compared to only 8% of animals fed the standard diet. The infected, malnourished animals showed notable leukocyte depletion, mild specific antibody responses, impairment of lymphoproliferation, presence of parasites in blood (16.67% of the hamsters) and significant increase of the splenic parasite burden. Animals fed standard diet suffered agranulocytosis and monocytopenia, but showed stronger specific immune responses and had lower parasite loads than their malnourished counterparts. The present results show that protein malnutrition promotes visceral leishmaniasis and provide clues regarding the mechanisms underlying the impairment of the immune system.
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carrillo
authors.affiliation: Departamento Medicina y Cirugía Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria Angeles
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Molecular e Celular, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar e Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: Departamento Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Camila Marinelli
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Departamento Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Anaiá
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: da Paixão Sevá
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for Leishmaniasis, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006224:Cricetinae; D018753:Diet, Protein-Restricted / Q000379:methods; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000276:immunology; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*; D008647:Mesocricetus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D011506:Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins