Identification of Leishmania species and frequency distribution of LRV1 and LRV2 viruses on cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in Isfahan Province, Iran

Azadeh Zolfaghari; Keivan Beheshti-Maal; Ali Mohammad Ahadi; Ramesh Monajemi

doi:10.1016/j.ijmmb.2022.11.008

Identification of Leishmania species and frequency distribution of LRV1 and LRV2 viruses on cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in Isfahan Province, Iran

Indian J Med Microbiol. 2023 Jan-Feb:41:13-18. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmmb.2022.11.008. Epub 2022 Dec 23.

Authors

Azadeh Zolfaghari¹, Keivan Beheshti-Maal², Ali Mohammad Ahadi³, Ramesh Monajemi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
² Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran. Electronic address: beheshtimaal@iaufala.ac.ir.
³ Department of Genetics, Faculty of Science, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran.
⁴ Department of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

PMID: 36870742
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmmb.2022.11.008

Abstract

Purpose: Leishmaniasis is one of the most serious health problems in developing countries. Iran is one of the endemic regions of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) is a dsRNA virus member of the Totiviridae family, which was first detected in the promastigotes of Leishmania braziliensis guyanensis. Our study aimed to investigate possible changes in the predominant and causative strains of CL and screening the LRV1 and LRV2 species genome from Leishmania species isolated from the lesions of patients.

Materials and methods: Direct smear samples obtained from 62 patients with leishmaniasis referring to the Skin Diseases and Leishmaniasis Research Center in Isfahan province during 2021-2022 were examined. Total DNA extraction procedures and conservation of site-specific multiplex PCR and nested PCR were performed for detecting Leishmania species. The molecular identification of LRV1 and LRV2 viruses, samples were used for total RNA extraction and real-time (RT)-PCR analysis, followed by conducting a restriction enzyme assay to confirm the PCR products.

Results: Of the total Leishmania isolates, 54 and 8 isolates were identified as L. major and L. tropica, respectively. LRV2 was identified in 18 samples affected by L. major, while LRV1 was only detected in one of the samples with L. tropica. No LRV2 was found in any samples with L. tropica. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between LRV1 and the type of leishmaniasis (Sig. = 0.009, P ≤ 0.05), while this relationship was not observed between LRV2 and the type of leishmaniasis.

Conclusions: The presence of a significant number of LRV2 in isolated samples, as well as the recognition of LRV1 in one of the Old World leishmaniasis species, which is a new result, could pave the way for investigating further aspects of this disease and successful treatment strategies in future studies.

Keywords: DNA Restriction enzymes; Leishmania RNA virus; Leishmaniasis; Nested PCR; Real-time polymerase chain reaction.

MeSH terms

Humans
Iran
Leishmania*
Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous*
Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction
Viruses*