Clinical response and resistance to antimonial drugs in Leishmania

Project

Infection with the single-celled parasite Leishmania has a variety of detrimental effects, including a debilitating skin ulceration. Leishmaniasis can be treated with drugs containing the heavy metal antimony, yet, despite their use for some 50 years, the mode of action of these antimonial drugs is still unknown. More worryingly, it appears that children - a particularly vulnerable group - do not respond as well to antimonials and that parasites are beginning to develop drug resistance.

In this programme, a multidisciplinary team of scientists from Colombia, Canada, the UK, the USA and Brazil will be exploring the reasons for treatment failure, the mechanisms of action of antimonials, and the basis for drug resistance in the parasite. In addition, the programme will investigate whether parasites are transferred to new hosts directly from infected individuals (rather than from infected animal reservoirs, as is commonly assumed), which could represent an important but generally overlooked mode of transmission.

This information will lead to a better understanding of drug resistance in Leishmania, contribute to the development of new therapeutic agents and help to improve current treatments for leishmaniasis.

Applicants

Professor Nancy G Saravia
CIDEIM, Cali, Colombia

Professor G H Coombs
Division of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK

Professor A H Fairlamb
Department of Biochemistry, University of Dundee, UK

Professor M Ouellette
Université Laval, Canada

Professor B P Rosen
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA

Professor P M Rainey
School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, USA