Molecular investigation of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines gene expression in macrophages exposed to Leishmania major

Hamoonnavard, Sahar; Babaei Dehaghi, Fatemeh; Rezvan, Hossein; Fekri, Mahya; Baniasadi, Faezeh; Sharifirad, Atefeh; Parsa Miadfar, Mohammad Parsa

doi:10.22092/ari.2025.368010.3464

Molecular investigation of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines gene expression in macrophages exposed to Leishmania major

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Articles

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Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

10.22092/ari.2025.368010.3464

Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an infectious skin lesion that affects people all over the world. The innate and specific immune response generated against the parasite in the host is effective during the treatment period and wound healing process. The production of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines play a central role in susceptibility and resistance to the pathogen. Peritoneal macrophage cells were harvested from the ventricular cavity of BALB/C mice and exposed to Leishmania major parasite (MHOM/IR/75/ER) at three time points (24, 48 and 72 hours). Gene expression of TNF-α, IL-12, CXCL-9, CXCL-10, IL-10, and TGF-β cytokines was analysed by real-time PCR. The expression of the IL-10 as anti-inflammatory cytokines was higher than that of inflammatory cytokines during the three treatment periods (24, 48 and 72). The expression of IL-p35 was also high, but not IL-p40. The expression of CXCL-9 (crucial for the recruitment of immune T cells) was also upregulated (P-value≤0.05). The gene expression of TNF-α was low at three different time points, especially after 72 hours of exposure, and the level of TGF-β gene increased significantly after 72 hours and anti-inflammatory cytokines was higher than that of inflammatory cytokines (P-value≤0.05). Inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines have an critical role in the treatment of Leishmania major infections. Pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine production is related to the mechanism of suppression of cellular immune responses mediated by Th2 lymphocytes during disease progression. Evaluation macrophage gene expression of cytokines may be indicative of cytokine expression by macrophage cells as a major factor in the host defense involved in CL and is important for studies on the pathogenesis of the disease.

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