Detection of Leishmania RNA Virus in Clinical Samples from Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients Varies according to the Type of Sample

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 104; no. 1; pp. 233 - 239
• Main Authors: Parra-Muñoz, Marcela, Aponte, Samanda, Ovalle-Bracho, Clemencia, Saavedra, Carlos H, Echeverry, María C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 01-01-2021; The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
• Subjects: Biopsy; Humans; Leishmania - classification; Leishmania - virology; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous - parasitology; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous - virology; Leishmaniavirus - genetics; Leishmaniavirus - isolation & purification; Medical diagnosis; Parasites; Parasitic diseases; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Viral - isolation & purification; Viral Load; Viruses
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0073

RNA virus (LRV) is a double-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Totiviridae family detected as cytoplasmic inclusions in some strains of the human parasite
spp
Experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that human coinfection with
spp
-LRV triggers an exacerbated immune response in the host that can be responsible for the observed complicated outcomes in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), such as mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) and treatment failure of CL. However, the reported frequencies of LRV associated with complicated outcomes in patient's series are highly variable, diminishing the relevance on the virus presence in the pathogenesis of the disease. To assess whether or not the inconsistent information about the frequency of LRV associated with CL complicated outcomes could be related to the virus detection approach, the present study evaluated the LRV presence in clinical samples using a diagnostic algorithm according to the type of the sample. In 36 samples with diagnosis of complicated forms of CL (15 of ML and 21 of CL antimony treatment failure) and six samples with non-
spp. infection, the LRV presence was assessed by
. Viral load was estimated in parasite clinical isolates. By combining the methods, LRV1 presence was confirmed in 45% (9/20) of isolates and 37.5% (6/16) of the incisional biopsies. Remarkably, in some cases (4/8), LRV1 was undetectable in the isolates but present in their respective biopsies, and less frequently, the opposite was observed (1/8), suggesting the possibility of loss of parasites harboring LRV1 during the in vitro growth.