Therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cells on cutaneous leishmaniasis lesions caused by Leishmania major

• Published in: Journal of global antimicrobial resistance. Vol. 23; pp. 243 - 250
• Main Authors: Navard, Sahar Hamoon, Rezvan, Hossein, Haddad, Mohammad Hossein Feiz, Ali, S.A., Nourian, Alireza, Eslaminejad, Mohamadreza Baghaban, Behmanesh, Mohammad Amin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01-12-2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: BALB/c; Cutaneous leishmaniasis; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mice; Cutaneous leishmaniasis; Mice; BALB/c; Mesenchymal stem cells
• ISSN: 2213-7165; 2213-7173
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2020.09.005

•MSCs can be used for treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. major.•MSCs can be injected at the site of infection, with or without Glucantime.•MSCs help control progression of the lesions.•MSCs also increase macrophage phagocytosis and splenocyte proliferation.•The mechanism of the effects of MSCs on cutaneous leishmaniasis is not understood.
Leishmania major (L. major) is a cutaneous leishmaniasis causative agent. Current chemotherapeutic methods are not totally effective in treatment of this disease. The immunomodulation and tissue repairing capability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), ease of isolation, detection and in vitro culture, have encouraged biologists to use MSCs for cell therapy in different infections such as cutaneous leishmaniasis.
BALB/c mice (6–8 weeks old) were infected with L. major then divided into four groups and treated with MSCs, Glucantime, Glucantime + MSCs, or PBS. Regression of lesions, potency of macrophages for phagocytosis, proliferation of immune cells against Leishmania soluble antigen, reduction of spleen parasite burden and healing of the lesions were evaluated on days 10, 20 and 30 of treatment.
The results indicated that the mice intralesionally injected with MSCs showed significant regression in the lesions produced by L. major by day 30. Proliferation of splenocytes stimulated with SLA (soluble leishmania antigen) in vitro in MSC-treated mice on day 20 was significantly higher than in the other groups. The potency of phagocytosis in macrophages of mice treated with MSCs was significantly higher by day 30 and healing of the lesions in this group of mice showed more progress on histopathological examinations. Spleen parasite burden showed significant reduction in the mice treated with Glucantime + MSCs by day 30.
The results showed that including MSCs in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. major is a promising approach.