M. Mahmoudian Sani, A. Hajizade,M. Sankian, A. Fata, M. Mellat, K. Hassanpour and Gh. Farnoosh
Leishmania major is an intracellular parasite that is transmitted to humans by the bite of female phlebotomine sandflies. It causes cutaneous leishmaniasis and has the ability of surviving in macrophages. It has been shown that NOD-like Receptors (NLRs) and other molecules related to the inflammasome pathway are upregulated in intracellular bacteria like Salmonella and Shigella species. Since Leishmania is an intracellular parasite, we analyzed the expression of some inflammasome pathway related components in Leishmania major-infected murine macrophages. For this, in this study we evaluated the expression levels of two NLRs (NALP3 and NAIP5), inflammasome adaptor molecule ASC, pro-inflammatory caspase-1, and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-18. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed a significant increase of NALP3, IPAF, ASC, IL-1β, IL-18 mRNA level at 6 and 18 hours after L. major infection of macrophages compared to control ones, whereas, the expression level of NAIP5 was not significantly increased in infected macrophages.
