Medicine

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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty

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    Proteome profiling of cutaneous leishmaniasis lesions due to dermotropic Leishmania donovani in Sri Lanka
    (BioMed Central, 2024) Manamperi, N.H.; Edirisinghe, N.M.; Wijesinghe, H.; Pathiraja, L.; Pathirana, N.; Wanasinghe, V.S.; De Silva, C.G.; Abeyewickreme, W.; Karunaweera, N.D.
    BACKGROUND Characterization of the host response in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) through proteome profiling has gained limited insights into leishmaniasis research compared to that of the parasite. The primary objective of this study was to comprehensively analyze the proteomic profile of the skin lesions tissues in patients with CL, by mass spectrometry, and subsequent validation of these findings through immunohistochemical methods.METHODS Eight lesion specimens from leishmaniasis-confirmed patients and eight control skin biopsies were processed for proteomic profiling by mass spectrometry. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded lesion specimens from thirty patients and six control skin specimens were used for Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS software. The chi-square test was used to assess the association between the degree of staining for each marker and the clinical and pathological features.RESULTS Sixty-seven proteins exhibited significant differential expression between tissues of CL lesions and healthy controls (p < 0.01), representing numerous enriched biological processes within the lesion tissue, as evident by both the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Reactome databases. Among these, the integrated endoplasmic reticulum stress response (IERSR) emerges as a pathway characterized by the up-regulated proteins in CL tissues compared to healthy skin. Expression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensors, inositol-requiring enzyme-1 (IRE1), protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) in lesion tissue was validated by immunohistochemistry.CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, proteomic profiling of skin lesions carried out as a discovery phase study revealed a multitude of probable immunological and pathological mechanisms operating in patients with CL in Sri Lanka, which needs to be further elaborated using more in-depth and targeted investigations. Further research exploring the intricate interplay between ER stress and CL pathophysiology may offer promising avenues for the development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies in combating this disease.
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    Diagnosing Cutaneous leishmaniasis using Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization: the Sri Lankan Perspective
    (Taylor & Francis, 2019) Kaluarachchi, T.D.J.; Weerasekera, M. M.; McBain, A. J.; Ranasinghe, S.; Wickremasinghe, R.; Yasawardene, S.; Jayanetti, N.; Wickremasinghe, R.
    Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania donovani MON-37 is becoming a major public health problem in Sri Lanka, with 100 new cases per month being reported in endemic regions. Diagnosis of CL is challenging for several reasons. Due to relative specificity and rapidity we propose Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization as a diagnostic tool for CL. The objective was to evaluate the potential of Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization as a diagnostic method for Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka. Literature on current laboratory tests used to diagnose Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka and globally was reviewed. Sri Lankan data were reviewed systematically following the PRISMA guidelines. A narrative of the results is presented. There is currently no gold standard diagnostic method for Cutaneous leishmaniasis. Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization has been previously applied to detect dermal pathologies including those involving infectious agents, and its use to detect the Leishmania parasite in human cutaneous lesions reported in small number of studies, generally with limited numbers of subjects. Advantages of FISH has been specificity, cost and ease-of-use compared to the alternatives. Based on the available literature and our current work, FISH has potential for diagnosing CL and should now be evaluated in larger cohorts in endemic regions. FISH for CL diagnosis could find application in countries such as Sri Lanka, where laboratory facilities may be limited in rural areas where the disease burden is highest.
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    Tissue impression smears as a supplementary diagnostic method for histopathology in cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka
    (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2018) Manamperi, N.H.; de Silva, M.V.C.; Pathirana, N.; Abeyewickreme, W.; Karunaweera, N.D.
    Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is diagnosed mainly by light microscopy of smears made using lesion material. Histopathology is usually done in atypical presentations or when lesion smears are negative. Tissue impression smears (TIS) made from skin biopsy specimens were compared with histopathology for the diagnosis of CL. Out of the 111 patients included, 83 (74.8%) were positive by either methods. The TIS was positive in 70.3% whereas histopathology was positive in 56.8% of patients. Tissue impression smears can be used as a supplementary diagnostic test that gives sensitive and rapid results when tissue biopsies are used as the source of lesion material for diagnosis of CL.
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    Efficacy of a new rapid diagnostic test kit to diagnose Sri Lankan cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania donovani
    (Public Library of Science, 2017) de Silva, G.; Somaratne, V.; Senaratne, S.; Vipuladasa, M.; Wickremasinghe, R.; Wickremasinghe, R.; Ranasinghe, S.
    BACKGROUND: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Sri Lanka is caused by Leishmania donovani. This study assessed the diagnostic value of a new rapid diagnostic immunochromatographic strip (CL-Detect™ IC-RDT), that captures the peroxidoxin antigen of Leishmania amastigotes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sampled 74 clinically suspected CL lesions, of which 59 (79.7%) were positive by PCR, 43 (58.1%) by Giemsa stained slit skin smear (SSS) and 21 (28.4%) by the new IC-RDT. All samples which were positive either by SSS or IC-RDT or both were positive by PCR. The sensitivities of the IC-RDT and SSS compared to PCR were 36% and 73%, respectively. Fifteen patients from this endemic region were negative by all three tests. Twenty two clinically non-CL skin lesions from a CL non-endemic region were also negative by all three methods. Specificity and PPV of both IC-RDT and SSS compared to PCR were 100%; the NPVs of IC-RDT and SSS were 37% and 58%, respectively. The median parasite grading of the 59 PCR positive samples was 2+ (1-10 parasites/100 HPFs) and IC-RDT positive lesions was 3+ (1-10 parasites /10HPFs). The duration of the lesion was not associated with IC-RDT positivity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The median parasite grade of Sri Lankan CL lesions is low. The low sensitivities of SSS and CL Detect™ IC-RDT may be due to low parasite counts or low expression of peroxidoxin antigen in amastigotes of the Sri Lankan L. donovani strain. Our results indicate that negative SSS has to be combined with PCR for confirmation of CL in Sri Lanka. The current commercially available IC-RDT is not suitable to diagnose CL in Sri Lanka; an IC-RDT with improved sensitivity to detect L. donovani would be a valuable addition in the diagnostic tool kit for Sri Lanka.
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    In situ immune response to cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka
    (Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2017) Manamperi, N.H.; Oghumu, S.; Pathirana, N.; de Silva, M.V.C.; Abeyewickreme, W.; Satoskar, A.R.; Karunaweera, N.D.
    INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Sri Lanka is caused by Leishmania donovani-MON 37, known to cause visceral leishmaniasis elsewhere. Localized immune response may play a role in disease outcome with T helper (Th) 1 response favouring lesion healing and Th2 response leading to disease progression in animal models. This study describes the localized host immune response to CL in Sri Lanka. METHOD: Skin punch biopsies from 58 patients with parasitologically confirmed CL and 25 healthy controls were quantified for cytokine gene expression of Th1 cytokines interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-12A and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and Th2 cytokines, IL-4 and IL-10 by real-time RT-PCR. Relative copy numbers were calculated using the 2-ΔΔCt method. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test and the Spearman’s correlation test were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Study group consisted of 37 (63.8%) males and 21 (36.2%) females with a mean age of 35.0 years (SD=12.1, range=18-66), mean lesion duration of 6.75 ±9.1 months (range: 1-48) and a mean size of 176.59±185.76 mm2 (range: 12.6–908.3 mm2). Significant up regulation of IFN-γ (p<0.001) and down regulation of IL-4 (p<0.001) were seen in patients compared to healthy controls. Time taken for lesions to heal correlated significantly with in situ expression of IL-4 (Spearman’s r=0.321, p=0.034). CONCLUSION: Immune response to L. donovani induced CL in Sri Lanka tends to follow the typical Th1/Th2 convention with a Th2 biased milieu favouring poor responsiveness to antimony and delayed lesion healing.
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