Characterization of the Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen of Leishmania donovani Clinical Isolates and Its Association with Antimony Resistance

Previously, through a proteomic analysis, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was found to be overexpressed in the sodium antimony gluconate (SAG)-resistant clinical isolate compared to that in the SAG-sensitive clinical isolate of Leishmania donovani . The present study was designed to explore the potential role of the PCNA protein in SAG resistance in L. donovani . For this purpose, the protein was cloned, overexpressed, purified, and modeled. Western blot (WB) and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) analyses confirmed that PCNA was overexpressed by ≥3-fold in the log phase, stationary phase, and peanut agglutinin isolated procyclic and metacyclic stages of the promastigote form and by ∼5-fold in the amastigote form of the SAG-resistant isolate compared to that in the SAG-sensitive isolate. L. donovani PCNA (LdPCNA) was overexpressed as a green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein in a SAG-sensitive clinical isolate of L. donovani , and modulation of the sensitivities of the transfectants to pentavalent antimonial (Sb V ) and trivalent antimonial (Sb III ) drugs was assessed in vitro against promastigotes and intracellular (J774A.1 cell line) amastigotes, respectively. Overexpression of LdPCNA in the SAG-sensitive isolate resulted in an increase in the 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC 50 ) of Sb V (from 41.2 ± 0.6 μg/ml to 66.5 ± 3.9 μg/ml) and Sb III (from 24.0 ± 0.3 μg/ml to 43.4 ± 1.8 μg/ml). Moreover, PCNA-overexpressing promastigote transfectants exhibited less DNA fragmentation compared to that of wild-type SAG-sensitive parasites upon Sb III treatment. In addition, SAG-induced nitric oxide (NO) production was found to be significantly inhibited in the macrophages infected with the transfectants compared with that in wild-type SAG-sensitive parasites. Consequently, we infer that LdPCNA has a significant role in SAG resistance in L. donovani clinical isolates, which warrants detailed investigations regarding its mechanism.