Homologues of LMPK, a mitogen-activated protein kinase from Leishmania mexicana, in different Leishmania species

LMPK, a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase homologue of Leishmania mexi cana, is essential for the proliferation of the amastigote, the mammalian s tage of the protozoan parasite. This has been demonstrated using deletion m utant promastigotes, the insect stage of the parasite: first, in vitro afte r differentiation to amastigotes, which subsequently lost their potential t o proliferate; second, by infection of peritoneal macrophages, which were a ble to cope with the infection and cleared the parasites; third, by infecti on of BALB/c mice, which showed no lesion development. The lmpk deletion mu tant promastigotes are a potential live vaccine because they infect macroph ages, transform to amastigotes and deliver amastigote antigens to raise an immune response without causing the disease. In addition, inhibition of LMP K in a wild-type infection is likely to resolve the disease and as such, is an ideal target for drug development against leishmaniasis. Here we invest igated the presence and copy number of lmpk homologues in Leishmania amazon ensis, L. major, L. tropica, L. aethiopica, L. donovani, L. infantum, and L . braziliensis and discuss the results with regard to drug development and vaccination using kinase deletion mutants.