Long-term hematopoietic stem cells as a parasite niche during treatment failure in visceral leishmaniasis

© 2022. The Author(s)..

Given the discontinuation of various first-line drugs for visceral leishmaniasis (VL), large-scale in vivo drug screening, establishment of a relapse model in rodents, immunophenotyping, and transcriptomics were combined to study persistent infections and therapeutic failure. Double bioluminescent/fluorescent Leishmania infantum and L. donovani reporter lines enabled the identification of long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC) as a niche in the bone marrow with remarkably high parasite burdens, a feature confirmed for human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSPC). LT-HSC are more tolerant to antileishmanial drug action and serve as source of relapse. A unique transcriptional 'StemLeish' signature in these cells was defined by upregulated TNF/NF-κB and RGS1/TGF-β/SMAD/SKIL signaling, and a downregulated oxidative burst. Cross-species analyses demonstrated significant overlap with human VL and HIV co-infected blood transcriptomes. In summary, the identification of LT-HSC as a drug- and oxidative stress-resistant niche, undergoing a conserved transcriptional reprogramming underlying Leishmania persistence and treatment failure, may open therapeutic avenues for leishmaniasis.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:5

Enthalten in:

Communications biology - 5(2022), 1 vom: 25. Juni, Seite 626

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Dirkx, Laura [VerfasserIn]
Hendrickx, Sarah [VerfasserIn]
Merlot, Margot [VerfasserIn]
Bulté, Dimitri [VerfasserIn]
Starick, Marick [VerfasserIn]
Elst, Jessy [VerfasserIn]
Bafica, André [VerfasserIn]
Ebo, Didier G [VerfasserIn]
Maes, Louis [VerfasserIn]
Van Weyenbergh, Johan [VerfasserIn]
Caljon, Guy [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 28.06.2022

Date Revised 17.08.2022

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1038/s42003-022-03591-7

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM342736558