AUTHOR=Nylén Susanne , Kumar Rajiv 

TITLE=Immunobiology of visceral leishmaniasis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00251

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2012.00251

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), commonly known as kala-azar, is caused by <italic>Leishmania donovani</italic> and <italic>Leishmania infantum</italic> (<italic>Leishmania chagasi</italic> in the Americas). These <italic>Leishmania</italic> species infect macrophages throughout the viscera, and parasites are typically found in the spleen, liver, and bone marrow. Patients with active disease typically exhibit marked immunosuppression, lack reactivity to the <italic>Leishmania</italic> skin test (LST), a delayed type hypersensitivity test, and their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) fail to respond when stimulated with leishmanial antigens <italic>in vitro</italic>. However, most people infected with visceralizing species of <italic>Leishmania</italic> never develop disease. Understanding immune failure and the underlying immune mechanism that lead to disease as well as control of infection are key questions for research in this field. In this review, we discuss immunological events described in human and experimental VL and how these can affect the outcome of infection.</p>