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Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a central regulator of growth and immunity of host cells. It's involvement in cancer and tuberculosis is well documented but least explored in Leishmania donovani invasion of host cells. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of mTOR in M2 macrophage polarization for Leishmania survival. We observed that Leishmania infection activated host mTOR pathway characterized by phosphorylation of mTOR, 70S6K and 4-EBP1. Inhibition of mTOR resulted in decreased parasite load and percent infectivity. Moreover, Leishmania infection triggered cell proliferation as was evidenced by increased expression of cyclin A and p-RPS6. mTOR activation during Leishmania infection resulted in reduced expression of M1 macrophage markers (eg, ROS, NO, iNOS, NOX-1, IL-12, IL-1β and TNF-α), and increased expression of M2 macrophage markers (eg, arginase-1, IL-10, TGF-β, CD206 and CD163). Furthermore, we observed that in case of Leishmania infection, mTOR inhibition increased the translocation of NF-κB to nucleus and deactivation of STAT-3. Eventually, we observed that inhibition of M2 macrophage polarization reduced Leishmania survival inside macrophages. Therefore, our findings suggest that mTOR plays a crucial role in regulation of M2 macrophage polarization and direct the innate immune homeostasis towards parasite survival inside host., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Regulation of macrophage PCD plays an important role in pathogenesis of leishmaniasis. However, the precise involvement of any parasite molecule in this process remains uncertain. In the current study, in silico wide analysis demonstrated that genes in the Leishmania donovani genome are highly enriched for CpG motifs, with sequence frequency of 8.7%. Here, we show that unmethylated species-specific CpG motifs in LdDNA significantly (P = 0.01) delay macrophage PCD by endosomal interaction with TLR9 via the adaptor protein MyD88. Importantly, LdDNA triggered high levels of luciferase activity (P = 0.001) under NF-κB-dependent transcription in HEK-TLR9 cells. Furthermore, the activation of caspases in macrophages was inhibited (P = 0.001) in the presence of LdDNA. Notably, the delay of PCD was mediated by modulation of the antiapoptotic proteins, Mcl-1 and Bfl-1, and impairment of loss of Δψm in macrophages through the neutralization of oxidative and nitrosative stress. The inhibition of caspase activation and up-regulation of Mcl-1 by LdDNA were TLR9 dependent. Analysis of the targets of LdDNA identified an early activation of the TLR9-dependent PI3K/Akt and SFK pathways, which were required for the observation of the antiapoptotic effects in macrophages. Moreover, we demonstrate that LdDNA modulates the TLR9-IκB-α pathway by promoting the tyrosine phosphorylation of TLR9 and the TLR9-mediated recruitment of Syk kinase. The results have identified a novel, TLR9-dependent antiapoptotic function of LdDNA, which will provide new opportunities for discovering and evaluating molecular targets for drug and vaccine designing against VL., (© Society for Leukocyte Biology.)

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) produced by the phagocytic cells are the most common arsenals used to kill the intracellular pathogens. However, Leishmania, an intracellular pathogen, has evolved mechanisms to survive by counterbalancing the toxic oxygen metabolites produced during infection. Polyamines, the major contributor in this anti-oxidant machinery, are largely dependent on the availability of L-arginine in the intracellular milieu. Argininosuccinate synthase (ASS) plays an important role as the rate-limiting step required for converting L-citrulline to argininosuccinate to provide arginine for an assortment of metabolic processes. Leishmania produce an active ASS enzyme, yet it has an incomplete urea cycle as it lacks an argininosuccinate lyase (ASL). There is no evidence for endogenous synthesis of L-arginine in Leishmania, which suggests that these parasites salvage L-arginine from extracellular milieu and makes the biological function of ASS and the production of argininosuccinate in Leishmania unclear. Our previous quantitative proteomic analysis of Leishmania promastigotes treated with sub-lethal doses of ROS, RNS, or a combination of both, led to the identification of several differentially expressed proteins which included ASS. To assess the involvement of ASS in stress management, a mutant cell line with greatly reduced ASS activity was created by a double-targeted gene replacement strategy in L. donovani promastigote. Interestingly, LdASS is encoded by three copies of allele, but Western blot analysis showed the third allele did not appear to express ASS. The free thiol levels in the mutant LdASS-/-/+ cell line were decreased. Furthermore, the cell viability in L-arginine depleted medium was greatly attenuated on exposure to different stress environments and was adversely impacted in its ability to infect mice. These findings suggest that ASS is important for Leishmania donovani to counterbalance the stressed environments encountered during infection and can be targeted for chemotherapeutic purpose to treat visceral leishmaniasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]