Genetic markers for SSG-resistance in Leishmania donovani and SSG-treatment failure of visceral leishmaniasis patients in the Indian subcontinent
Van Aerschot, Manu, Decuypere, Saskia and Downing, Tim
(2012)
Genetic markers for SSG-resistance in Leishmania donovani and SSG-treatment failure of visceral leishmaniasis patients in the Indian subcontinent.
Journal of Infectious Diseases, 206
(5).
pp. 752-755.
ISSN 1537-6613
The current standard to assess pentavalent antimonial (SSG) susceptibility of Leishmania is a laborious in vitro assay of which the result has little clinical value because SSG-resistant parasites are also found in SSG-cured patients. Candidate genetic markers for clinically relevant SSG-resistant parasites identified by full genome sequencing were here validated on a larger set of clinical strains. We show that 3 genomic locations suffice to specifically detect the SSG-resistant parasites found only in patients experiencing SSG treatment failure. This finding allows the development of rapid assays to monitor the emergence and spread of clinically relevant SSGresistant Leishmania parasites.