Comparative proteomics study on meglumine antimoniate sensitive and resistant Leishmania tropica isolated from Iranian anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis patients.

Abstract : In order to define the protein expressional changes related to the process of meglumine antimoniate resistance in anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), we performed a comparative proteomics analysis on sensitive and resistant strains of Leishmania tropica isolated from Iranian CL patients. Cell proteins were analysed with 2-dimensional electrophoresis and differentially expressed proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Image analysis of the matched maps identified 7 proteins that were either over- or down-expressed: activated protein kinase c receptor(LACK), alpha tubulin (x2), prostaglandin f2-alpha synthase, protein disulfide isomerase, vesicular transport protein and a hypothetical protein. The study shows the usefulness of proteomics in identifying proteins that may express differences between sensitive and resistant L. tropica isolates.