Leishmania-infected macrophages release extracellular vesicles that can promote lesion development

Anna Gioseffi, Tim Hamerly, Kha Van, Naixin Zhang, Rhoel R. Dinglasan, Phillip A. Yates, Peter E. Kima

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Leishmania donovani infection of macrophages results in quantitative and qualitative changes in the protein profile of extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by the infected host cells. We confirmed mass spectrometry results orthogonally by performing Western blots for several Leishmania-infected macrophageenriched EVs (LieEVs) molecules. Several host cell proteins in LieEVs have been implicated in promoting vascular changes in other systems. We also identified 59 parasite-derived proteins in LieEVs, including a putative L. donovani homolog of mammalian vasohibins (LdVash), which in mammals promotes angiogenesis. We developed a transgenic parasite that expressed an endogenously tagged LdVash/mNeonGreen (mNG) and confirmed that LdVash/mNG is indeed expressed in infected macrophages and in LieEVs. We further observed that LieEVs induce endothelial cells to release angiogenesis promoting mediators including IL-8, G-CSF/CSF-3, and VEGF-A. In addition, LieEVs induce epithelial cell migration and tube formation by endothelial cells in surrogate angiogenesis assays. Taken together, these studies show that Leishmania infection alters the composition of EVs from infected cells and suggest that LieEVs may play a role in the promotion of vascularization of Leishmania infections.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere202000742
JournalLife science alliance
Volume3
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 29 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
  • Plant Science
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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