Leishmania tropica Gene Expression Profiles for Visceral and Cutaneous Disease

Fourteen clinical isolates from patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2022, comprising seven visceral leishmaniasis and seven cutaneous leishmaniasis cases, were analyzed for gene expression. Ahmet Ozbilgin authored this study, which identified a distinct molecular profile in viscerotropic strains, including 17-fold and 21-fold elevations in Peroxiredoxin 1 and Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit IV expression, respectively. The data challenge the view of Leishmania tropica as an exclusively cutaneous parasite.

Use Cases

• Identify candidate biomarkers for visceral leishmaniasis based on differential gene expression of antioxidant defense genes like Peroxiredoxin 1 and Peroxiredoxin 2.
• Investigate genetic drivers of parasite tissue tropism based on expression profiles of metabolic adaptation genes such as Pyruvate kinase and Succinyl-CoA transferase.
• Validate potential therapeutic targets by analyzing coding variants in proteolytic enzymes like Oligopeptidase B and the M32 metallo-peptidase.
• Compare molecular profiles of clinical isolates from different disease manifestations based on qRT-PCR data for mitochondrial function genes like Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit IV.

Strengths

• Includes 14 clinical isolates with matched clinical phenotypes (7 VL, 7 CL).
• Gene expression analysis covers seven candidate genes across functional categories like oxidative stress and metabolism.
• Identifies specific fold-change differences, such as 17-fold and 21-fold elevations in key genes.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small at 24.7 KB, indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

Ahmet Ozbilgin via figshare.

Collection Method

Clinical isolates from patients were cultured, genotyped via real-time quantitative PCR, and analyzed via qRT-PCR and targeted next-generation sequencing.

Time Range

Patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2022.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-11 05:25:12; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Isolates are from Turkiye and other endemic settings, as mentioned in the description.