Following successful anti-leishmanial treatment, neutrophil counts, CD10 expression and phagocytic capacity remain reduced in visceral leishmaniasis patients co-infected with HIV

Takele, Y., Adem, E., Mulaw, T., Müller, I., Cotton, J. A. and Kropf, P. (2022) Following successful anti-leishmanial treatment, neutrophil counts, CD10 expression and phagocytic capacity remain reduced in visceral leishmaniasis patients co-infected with HIV. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16(8), e0010681. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010681) (PMID:35969625) (PMCID:PMC9410551)

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients co-infected with HIV (VL/HIV patients) experience frequent treatment failures, VL relapses, opportunistic infections, and higher mortality. Their immune system remains profoundly suppressed after clinical cure and they maintain higher parasite load. This is in contrast with patients with VL alone (VL patients). Since neutrophils play a critical role in the control of Leishmania replication and the regulation of immune responses, we tested the hypothesis that neutrophil activation status and effector functions are fully restored in VL, but not in VL/HIV patients. Our results show the neutrophil counts and all activation markers and effector functions tested in our study were reduced at the time of diagnosis in VL and VL/HIV patients as compared to controls. CD62L, CD63, arginase 1 expression levels and reactive oxygen species production were restored at the end of treatment in both groups. However, neutrophil counts, CD10 expression and phagocytosis remained significantly lower throughout follow-up in VL/HIV patients; suggesting that dysregulated neutrophils contribute to the impaired host defence against pathogens in VL/HIV patients.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: YT is funded by a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine (204797/Z/16/Z). JAC is funded by Wellcome via core funding of the Wellcome Sanger Institute (grant 206194).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cotton, Professor James
• Authors: Takele, Y., Adem, E., Mulaw, T., Müller, I., Cotton, J. A., and Kropf, P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1935-2727
• ISSN (Online): 1935-2735
• Published Online: 15 August 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Takele et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 16(8):e0010681
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license