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WOS:000555872700008 PMID: 32755520 Dünya Sağlık Örgütü, yaklaşık bir milyar insanın endemik bölgelerde risk altında olduğunu, son beş yıl içinde bir milyon kutanöz leyşmanyazis (KL) olgusunun ve yılda yaklaşık 300.000 viseral leyşmanyazis (VL) olgusunun olduğunu bildirmektedir. Her yıl yaklaşık 20.000 kişinin VL’ye bağlı öldüğü bilinmektedir. Türkiye’de Leishmania tropica’nın ve Leishmania infantum’un neden olduğu KL’de yılda 2500 civarında olgu bildirilmektedir. Başta Akdeniz ve Ege Bölgesi illerinde olmak üzere diğer birçok ilde son yıllarda ortaya çıkan olgu ve odaklarda önemli oranda artış görülmesi önümüzdeki yıllarda enfeksiyon hızının yükseleceğini göstermektedir. Ülkemizdeki KL’nin ana etkeni L.tropica olup tedavide meglumin antimonat kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, antimona dirençli ve dirençli olmayan L.tropica izolatlarının gen ve protein ekspresyonları karşılaştırılarak L.tropica’ya özgü antimon direnç genlerinin saptanması amaçlanmıştır. Ülkemizin Ege, Akdeniz ve Güneydoğu bölgelerinden antimonat direnci bulunmayan 3 KL hastasından elde edilmiş L.tropica izolatlarında, laboratuvar ortamında meglumin antimonata karşı 3 dirençli izolat geliştirilmiştir. Bu izolatların mikroarray yöntemi ile gen ekspresyon değişimleri, 2 boyutlu jel elektroforezi ile protein profilleri ve MALDI-TOF/TOF MS ile ilgili proteinleri tanımlanarak birbirleriyle karşılaştırma yapılmıştır. Antimon tedavisine yanıt vermemiş 10 KL hastasından elde edilmiş L.tropica izolatlarına antimon bileşiklerine yönelik direnç testleri uygulanmış ve direnç gelişiminden sorumlu genlerin ekspresyonlarını saptamak amacıyla kantitatif gerçek zamanlı polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu uygulanmıştır. Ayrıca, protein profilleri karşılaştırılarak antimon direnci olan ve olmayan izolatlardaki protein ekspresyon düzeylerindeki farklılıklar belirlenmiş ve farklılık saptanan proteinlerin tanımlanması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu çalışmalar sonucunda, L.tropica izolatlarının antimon bileşiklerine karşı direnç geliştirilen izolatlarında, direnç geliştirmesinde enolaz, “Elongation factor-2 (EF-2)”, “Heat shock protein 70 (HSP 70)”, tripanotyon redüktaz, protein kinaz C ve metalo-peptidaz proteinlerinin rol oynadığı saptanmış ve hastalardan alınan doğal dirençli izolatlarda da benzer ekspresyon değişimi gösterilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, ülkemizdeki L.tropica izolatlarının deneysel olarak çok kısa sürede meglumin antimonata (Glucantime®) karşı direnç kazandığı saptanmıştır. Ülkemizde yaşayan ve yurt dışından ülkemize giriş yapan KL hastalarının yetersiz ve eksik tedavi görmesi durumunda, dirençli suşların ve olgu sayısının hızla artabileceği ve dirençli leyşmanyazis odaklarının oluşabileceği öngörülmektedir. World Health Organization reported that approximately one billion people are at risk in endemic areas, one million cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and approximately 300,000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) were reported per year in the last five years. The number of deaths due to VL is reported to be approximately 20,000 per year. Approximately 2500 cases/year have been reported as CL, caused by Leishmania tropica and Leishmania infantum, in Turkey. The significant increase observed in many cities mainly in the provinces of Mediterranean and Aegean regions in cases and foci in recent years, suggests that there may be an increase in this infections in the following years as well. In Turkey, the causative agent of CL is L.tropica and meglumine antimoniate is used in the treatment of CL. We aimed to determine antimony resistance genes specific for L.tropica by comparing the gene and protein expressions of antimony-resistant and non-resistant L.tropica strains. L.tropica isolates obtained from 3 CL patients without antimonate resistance from Aegean, Mediterranean and Southeastern regions of Turkey were provided to transform into 3 resistant isolates against meglumine antimony in the laboratory conditions. Gene expression alterations by microarray method; protein profiles by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and relevant proteins by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS of these isolates were accomplished and compared. L.tropica isolates from 10 CL patients who did not respond to antimony therapy were analyzed for resistance to antimonial compounds and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect the expression of genes responsible for resistance development. Moreover, differences in protein expression levels in isolates with and without antimony resistance were determined by comparing protein profiles and identification of proteins with different expression levels was carried out. Enolase, elongation factor-2, heat shock protein 70, tripanthione reductase, protein kinase C and metallo-peptidase proteins have been shown to play roles in L.tropica isolates developing resistance to antimonial compounds and similar expression changes have also been demonstrated in naturally resistant isolates from patients. In conclusion, it was revealed that L.tropica strains in our country may gain resistance to meglumine antimoniate in a short time. It is foreseen that if the patients living in our country or entering the country are treated inadequately and incompletely, there may be new, resistant leishmaniasis foci that may increase the number of resistant strains and cases rapidly.

Although asexual reproduction has been attributed to Leishmania species, genetic exchange has recently been demonstrated, which helped emerging of hybrid isolates. Situated on the crossroads between three continents, Leishmania hybrids may be present in Turkey. In Turkey, visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum is less common, while cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania tropica and L.infantum could reach 2500 reported cases a year. Our aim was to investigate genetic variability of local Leishmania species and presence of hybrid Leishmania strains in Turkey. Twenty CL patients from Sanliurfa and Hatay, where only L.tropica and both L.tropica and L.infantum cause CL, respectively, were registered equally. All isolates were assessed with real-time polymerase chain reaction (Rt-PCR), isoenzyme analysis, gene sequencing, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and MALDI-TOF/TOFMS followed by in vivo analyses on mouse model. Identification of differentially expressed proteins was performed. These proteins were confirmed by sequence analysis. All isolates from Sanliurfa were found to be L.tropica which caused cutaneous infection in mice. However, one of 10 isolates from Hatay was found as Leishmania major which caused cutaneous infection. Five isolates were found as L.tropica with Rt-PCR and gene sequencing, one of which had one different protein from the reference L.tropica strain and caused cutaneous infection. Four of the five isolates had five different proteins compared to reference strain and caused both cutaneous and visceral infections. Remaining four isolates showed double melting curves in Rt-PCR, which were concordant with L.tropica and L.infantum. Their sequencing and isoenzyme analyses indicated them as L.infantum. They had six different proteins compared to reference L.infantum strain and caused cutaneous and visceral infections. It is concluded that the isolates with different proteins were hybrid Leishmania species. In the present study, outcomes of the proteomics, genomics, clinical manifestations and tissue tropism on animal models were evaluated together for the first time. In addition to L.tropica and L.infantum, L.major was identified as a causative agent for CL and hybrids of L.infantum/tropica were also shown to be present.