Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 112(11) November 2017
Review
Cytotoxic activity in cutaneous leishmaniasis
1Universidade Federal da Bahia, Serviço de Imunologia, Salvador, BA, Brasil
2Universidade Federal da Bahia, Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Salvador, BA, Brasil
3Houston Methodist Research Institute, Department of Nanomedicine, Houston, TX, United States
4Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologia-Doenças Tropicais, Salvador, BA, Brasil
5Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Laboratório Avançado de Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brasil
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a chronic disease caused by species of the protozoan Leishmania and characterised by the presence of ulcerated skin lesions. Both parasite and host factors affect the clinical presentation of the disease. The development of skin ulcers in CL is associated with an inflammatory response mediated by cells that control parasite growth but also contribute to pathogenesis. CD8+ T cells contribute to deleterious inflammatory responses in patients with CL through cytotoxic mechanisms. In addition, natural killer cells also limit Leishmania infections by production of interferon-u03b3 and cytotoxicity. In this review, we focus on studies of cytotoxicity in CL and its contribution to the pathogenesis of this disease.
