Duplex quantitative Reverse-Transcriptase PCR for simultaneous assessment of drug activity against Leishmania intracellular amastigotes and their host cells

• A duplex qRT-PCR was optimized for use in drug screening against Leishmania.
• Drug activities were measured against the intracellular amastigote stage.
• Cytotoxicity against the human host cells was simultaneously assessed.
• Consistent and reproducible dose–response data were generated.
• Suitability of this duplex PCR for anti-leishmanial drug screening was demonstrated.

Currently available drugs for treatment of Leishmania infections are highly toxic and drug resistance to first line therapies has been observed. New, safer and more effective drugs are urgently needed to improve clinical resolution of the disease and reduce the risks associated with it. High-throughput screening of new compounds against cultured promastigotes is easy to perform, but the results are poorly predictive of in vivo efficacy. Intra-macrophage amastigote models provide a better proxy of the clinically relevant stage of disease and should be routinely implemented in the search for new anti-leishmanial agents, despite being labor intensive.This study describes the use of a duplex quantitative Reverse-Transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) for assessment of drug activity against Leishmania intracellular amastigotes and their host cells. The assay simultaneously quantifies Leishmania 18S ribosomal RNA and the human β2-microglobulin (β-2M) mRNA, used for monitoring drug cytotoxicity and test performance. Accurate determination of parasite viability by the newly developed qRT-PCR was confirmed by parallel assessment of compound performance against standard microscopy. Highly reproducible anti-leishmanial activities were obtained with a set of structurally- and pharmacologically-diverse compounds, whose toxicity against host cells correlated with a low β-2M amplification. Sensitive and versatile, this duplex qRT-PCR offers a valuable tool for assessment of drug activities against Leishmania amastigotes and their host cells.

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