American
cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) causes a local inflammatory process, inducing expression of several
cytokine genes. Particularly, IFN-γ can predict to
disease susceptibility. Based in these data, this study was aimed to investigate the
gene expression profile of IFN-γ,
IL-10,
IL-27, TNF-γ, TGF-ß and
IL-6 produced in
biopsies from ACL
patients; and whether the
gene expression profile of IFN-γ could determine the
disease evolution.
Gene expression of 6
cytokines was investigated in 40
formalin-fixed
paraffin embedded (FFPE)
biopsies from
patients with cutaneous leishmaniosis (CL); and 10 FFPE
biopsies from
patients with mucosal
leishmaniasis (ML) (control). All 50
patients were infected with
Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis.
Gene expression was determined by qPCR; and a normal
control group was used for calculations (5 normal
biopsies). Values were expressed as Relative Quantification (RQ). The 40 CL
patients were classified into 2 groups. CLlowIFN-γ, 35
patients with RQ for IFN-γ below 100; and CLhighIFN-γ, 5 (12.5%)
patients with RQ above 100. Significant increase of
mRNA levels of IFN-γ,
IL-10 and
IL-27 was shown in CLhighIFN-γ group when compared with CLlowIFN-γ and ML groups. TNF-α levels in CLlowIFN-γ group were higher than CLhighIFN-γ and ML groups. TGF-ß and
IL-6 were
similar in 3 groups. Comparison of
cytokine expression/group showed that CLlowIFN-γ group had an equilibrium between the
cytokines analyzed. In ML group, IFN-γ was over-expressed; but in CLhighIFN-γ group, besides IFN-γ,
IL-27 was also over-expressed. The
immune response to
Leishmania induces to identification of some markers, which can be determined by
analysis by
gene expression of
cytokines produced in
biopsies