The Role of Inflammatory, Anti-Inflammatory, and Regulatory Cytokines in Patients Infected with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Amazonas State, Brazil

摘要

The authors discuss in this paper the role of inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and regulatory cytokines in patients infected with different species of Leishmania in Amazonas State, Brazil. A comparative analysis was made of serum concentrations of these cytokines in the peripheral blood of 33 patients infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The isolates were identified as Leishmania guyanensis, L naiffi, and!, amazonensis. Most (64%) of the patients were male ranging in age from 18 to 58 years. Protein expression profiles of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-y, TNF-a, and IL-17 cytokines were shown to vary significantly between infected and noninfected (control group) individuals and according to the Leishmania species. Infection caused by I. guyanensis accounted for 73% of the cases and patients with this parasite also showed higher concentrations of IL-2, IFN-y, IL-4, and IL-17 when compared to infection by I. amazonensis. Patients with infection caused by I. naiffi showed higher concentration of the cytokines analyzed when compared to uninfected patients; however, there was no statistically significant difference with the other species analyzed.