Abstract

Objectives: Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical countries of the world. The present study was aimed to assess the prevalence of disease as well as to know the pro and anti inflammatory cytokine response against the infection. Methods: 100 samples were collected from individuals suspected of leishmaniasis, from different clinics and hospitals situated in Rampur Bushair and Kinnaur, HP. Indirect ELISA was performed to detect anti-leishmanial IgG, and its isotypes in serum samples. The expression level of serum cytokines; TNF-α, INF-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-17A was measured by cytokine bead array system (BD Biosciences) and by using Flowcytomer (BD. Cantotm II). Results: Significantly high levels of IgG antibodies were detected in 42/100 (42%) individuals. Among IgG isotypes, the significantly high levels of IgG1 (38.1%) was observed followed by IgG3 (26.2%) and IgG4 (9.52%) respectively. However, the IgG2 subclass did not show any significant difference. The prevalence of IgG antibodies was observed high among 21-40 years of age group. The flowcytometric analysis of the cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL17A, TNF-α and IFN-γ revealed that the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-2 was expressed in maximum levels followed by TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-6, while IL-17A showed the minimum levels of expression. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-2 and antiinflammatory cytokine IL-10 was observe very high. Conclusion: The study shown that the Sutlej river valley is a new endemic focus for L. donovani and the protective immune response could not develop in the native population. Cytokines analysis revealed that the parasite prevalent in this region is highly virulent and causes more pathogenic effect as this is the new endemic foci and there is no earlier exposure to the parasite.