Suzanne M. Hickerson

TL;DR: It is shown that metastasizing parasites have a high Leishmania RNA virus–1 (LRV1) burden that is recognized by the host Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) to induce proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines and rendered mice more susceptible to infection, and the animals developed an increased footpad swelling and parasitemia.

TL;DR: The data suggest that the infective amastigote form of Leishmania, which normally resides within an acidified parasitophorous vacuole, can survive in vivo through salvage of host polyamines and/or other molecules, aided by the tendency of acidic compartments to concentrate basic metabolites.

TL;DR: The in vivo imaging system (IVIS) has an integrated software package that allows the detection of a bioluminescent signal associated with cells in living organisms and can be used for monitoring and analyzing small animal models of a wide variety of Leishmania species causing the different forms of human leishmaniasis.

TL;DR: It is concluded that phosphoglycan assembly and expression mediated by L. donovani LPG2 are important for promastigote and amastigotes virulence, unlike L. mexicana but similar to L. major.

TL;DR: These data resolve the distinct phenotypes seen among lpg2−Leishmania species by emphasizing the role of glycoconjugates other than PGs in amastigote virulence, while providing further support for the roles of PGs and lipophosphoglycan-deficient lpg1− in metacyclic promastigotes.