Alterations in phenotypic profiles of peripheral blood cells from patients with human American cutaneous leishmaniasis following treatment with an antimonial drug and a vaccine

The susceptibility or resistance of a vertebrate host to leishmaniasis is related to the species of Leishmania and to the host immune response of the host. In the present study, the phenotypic profiles of the peripheral blood cells of patients with American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) were evaluated before and after receiving three different therapeutic regimens. The study population comprised 24 patients, living in an ACL-endemic area of Caratinga (MG, Brazil), who had been diagnosed as ACL-positive on the basis of characteristic lesions, the Montenegro skin reactivity test, and/or positive parasitology. Subjects were divided into three groups and received treatment regimens based on (i) the pentavalent antimonial (SbV) N-methyl meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®), (ii) the vaccine Leishvacin®, or (iii) SbV in association with the vaccine. Comparative analyses of peripheral mononuclear cells prior to and after treatment revealed that the therapeutic regimens induced no significant differences in the percentages of CD3+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD19+ B lymphocytes, or CD16+ and CD56+ natural killer cells. Additionally, the CD4/CD8 and CD3/CD19 ratios remained unaltered by any of the treatments applied. Most previous studies in the field have focused on the analysis of peripheral blood from ACL patients following in vitro stimulation with either Leishmania antigens or mitogens. The ex vivo cellular immune phenotypic profiles determined in the present study, however, revealed that different ACL treatments did not significantly alter either the immune response exhibited by a patient prior to therapy or the expected cure rate.