Investigation of the role of ABC proteins in the resistance to paromomycin in Leishmania amazonensis

Resumo

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease with wide geographic distribution in tropical and subtropical areas, including Brazil where an increased number of cases in urban areas has been reported in the recent years. No vaccines are available for control of the disease and chemotherapy is restricted to some drugs like antimony and amphotericin B. Although not yet approved for the treatment of leishmaniasis in Brazil, paromomycin has been used in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in Southeast Asia with effectiveness of approximately 90%. To understand the mechanism of action and resistance of this drug in Leishmania, we aim to investigate the role of a subfamily of ABC (ATP binding cassette) proteins in the mechanisms of paromomycin resistance by gene transfection and overexpression of these genes in Leishmania amazonensis.