The Role of Inflammatory, Anti-Inflammatory, and Regulatory Cytokines in Patients Infected with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Amazonas State, Brazil

The authors discuss in this paper the role of inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and regulatory cytokines in patients infected with different species of Leishmania in Amazonas State, Brazil. A comparative analysis was made of serum concentrations of these cytokines in the peripheral blood of 33 patients infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis. The isolates were identified as Leishmania guyanensis, L. naiffi, and L. amazonensis. Most (64%) of the patients were male ranging in age from 18 to 58 years. Protein expression profiles of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-17 cytokines were shown to vary significantly between infected and noninfected (control group) individuals and according to the Leishmania species. Infection caused by L. guyanensis accounted for 73% of the cases and patients with this parasite also showed higher concentrations of IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4, and IL-17 when compared to infection by L. amazonensis. Patients with infection caused by L. naiffi showed higher concentration of the cytokines analyzed when compared to uninfected patients; however, there was no statistically significant difference with the other species analyzed.