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A. Ives et al., “Leishmania RNA virus controls the severity of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis,” Science, 331:775-78, 2011. Free F1000 Evaluation
The parasite Leishmania—which forms large, slow-healing sores when it attacks the skin (cutaneous leishmaniasis, CL)—can become more aggressive, metastasizing to the nasal passages and throat, a condition called mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, or MCL. Researchers knew that several Leishmania species harbor a double-stranded RNA virus called LRV1, but they didn’t know if it contributed to MCL. Nicolas Fasel from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and colleagues showed that the MCL parasite is more heavily infected with the virus, and that the resulting pathology is caused by overstimulation of the host immune system.
The researchers isolated metastatic strains of Leishmania and noticed that they induced sustained production of chemokines ...
