TY - JOUR
T1 - Leishmania infantum strains from cats are similar in biological properties to canine and human strains
AU - Pereira, André
AU - Parreira, Ricardo
AU - Cristóvão, José Manuel
AU - Vitale, Fabrizio
AU - Bastien, Patrick
AU - Campino, Lenea
AU - Maia, Carla
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Casa dos Animais de Lisboa and volunteer donors, as well as Dr Marta Martins, for generously sharing her cell culture expertise and Mrs Ana Gregorio for her technical assistance. We also acknowledge Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) for funding through contract GHTM-UID/Multi/04413/2013. AP was supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science (via FCT) through a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/116516/2016). The Biological Resources Centre of Leishmania (part of the French National Reference Centre for Leishmanioses) is part of the Biological Resources Centre of the Montpellier Academic Hospital (CRB-CHUM) and is supported by Sant? Publique France and the French Ministry of Health.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Casa dos Animais de Lisboa and volunteer donors, as well as Dr Marta Martins, for generously sharing her cell culture expertise and Mrs Ana Gregorio for her technical assistance. We also acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia , I.P. (FCT) for funding through contract GHTM-UID/Multi/04413/2013 . AP was supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science (via FCT) through a PhD grant ( SFRH/BD/116516/2016 ). The Biological Resources Centre of Leishmania (part of the French National Reference Centre for Leishmanioses) is part of the Biological Resources Centre of the Montpellier Academic Hospital (CRB-CHUM) and is supported by Santé Publique France and the French Ministry of Health .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Zoonotic visceral leishmaniosis is a worldwide severe disease caused by Leishmania infantum, a protozoan that has phlebotomine sand flies as vectors and dogs as primary reservoir hosts. Over the last few decades, cats have been regarded as an indisputable piece within the ecological system in which L. infantum is maintained indefinitely. However, little is known about feline strains, including their phenotypic plasticity and infectivity. In this study, the phenotypic behaviour of seven L. infantum feline strains was compared to those of well-characterised counterparts isolated from two dogs and two humans in terms of growth profile, adaptive capacity under several stress conditions, susceptibility to antileishmanial drugs, and infectivity to host cells. Feline strains displayed a similar growth profile, survival capacity, and ability to infect feline, canine, and human monocyte-derived primary macrophages. Furthermore, multivariate cluster analysis suggested that most strains studied did not display distinctive phenotypic features. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the phenotypic behaviour of feline L. infantum strains. This study brings new insights into the hypothetical role of cats as reservoir hosts of L. infantum since the parasites found in them are phenotypically identical to those of dogs and humans. However, further studies on the transmission dynamics should be encouraged to fully establish the status of cats in the maintenance of L. infantum foci.
AB - Zoonotic visceral leishmaniosis is a worldwide severe disease caused by Leishmania infantum, a protozoan that has phlebotomine sand flies as vectors and dogs as primary reservoir hosts. Over the last few decades, cats have been regarded as an indisputable piece within the ecological system in which L. infantum is maintained indefinitely. However, little is known about feline strains, including their phenotypic plasticity and infectivity. In this study, the phenotypic behaviour of seven L. infantum feline strains was compared to those of well-characterised counterparts isolated from two dogs and two humans in terms of growth profile, adaptive capacity under several stress conditions, susceptibility to antileishmanial drugs, and infectivity to host cells. Feline strains displayed a similar growth profile, survival capacity, and ability to infect feline, canine, and human monocyte-derived primary macrophages. Furthermore, multivariate cluster analysis suggested that most strains studied did not display distinctive phenotypic features. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the phenotypic behaviour of feline L. infantum strains. This study brings new insights into the hypothetical role of cats as reservoir hosts of L. infantum since the parasites found in them are phenotypically identical to those of dogs and humans. However, further studies on the transmission dynamics should be encouraged to fully establish the status of cats in the maintenance of L. infantum foci.
KW - Cat
KW - Disease reservoirs
KW - Leishmania
KW - Leishmaniosis
KW - Parasitic sensitivity tests
KW - Phenotype
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110359712&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.vetpar.2021.109531
DO - 10.1016/j.vetpar.2021.109531
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110359712
SN - 0304-4017
VL - 298
JO - Veterinary Parasitology
JF - Veterinary Parasitology
M1 - 109531
ER -