Genetic heterogeneity among visceral and post-Kala-Azar dermal leishmaniasis strains from eastern India

In India and Sudan, some patients of visceral leishmaniasis develop post-Kala-Azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) while majority will not. Similarly, the clinical manifestations and treatment outcome are reported to vary from district to district and state to state in India. Present study is focused on to find out the genetic variations between VL & PKDL causing strains. Nuclear DNA from 24 strains of Leishmania donovani, isolated from patients of visceral leishmaniasis (18) and PKDL (6) was extracted and digested with PstI restriction enzyme followed by southern hybridization using Dig labeled β-tubulin as probe. The results showed three different banding patterns among 18 VL strains. However, all PKDL isolates showed a genetic homogeneity within themselves but heterogeneity from VL isolates. Interestingly maximum heterogenic groups were found in Bihar but all isolates from West Bengal showed a single genotype origin. This study shows that genetic mutations might be responsible for such variation and development of PKDL in visceral strains of Indian L. donovani.